COLORADO SPRINGS – Colorado Springs Police investigators are looking for the person at the center of a suspected road rage shooting.
“When officers arrived on scene they found one adult with at least one apparent gunshot wound,” said Lieutenant Howard Black with Colorado Springs Police Department.
The injured man was taken to the hospital in critical and unstable condition.
A suspect drove away from the scene. Police are looking for a black man, about 20 years old with a mustache. He could be in a gold colored Chevy Impala with temporary tags and damage to the passenger side.
The incident is part of a broader issue. Statistics show aggressive driving that escalates to road rage and violence is a significant problem.
Over the past three months, there have been three reports of shots fired during road rage incidents.
A basic search of police states, news archives, and other internet searches shows more than 10 other road rage incidents over the past three years. The clashes include more shots fired, knives pulled, and cars swerving and crashing into other vehicles on purpose.
Research done in 2016 by AAA, shows 78% of drivers surveyed admit to engaging in some form of aggressive driving. Road rage is considered an escalation of aggressive driving.
Research by AAA ranked the top negative behaviors of those aggressive drivers.
More the 50% say they purposely tailgated another vehicle. The next two are yelling at another driver and honking the horn to show aggression. More than 45% of drivers admit to those behaviors.
Just under 17% of drivers cut-off another driver on purpose. 3.7% got out of the car to confront another driver. Finally, 2.8% of the drivers admitted to bumping or ramming another car.
Researchers say it is possible the numbers are low because some people are uncomfortable admitting to negative behavior.
