PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Petersburg Police Department is seeing an increase in dangerous road rage incidents. According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, in 2018 there were 410 fatal crashes involving road rage. In 2021 that number went up to 608.
Earlier this week, St. Pete Police said a man showed up to the school seeking help after being stabbed in a road rage incident. The man who stabbed him is now charged with attempted murder.
"I just want people to drive safely and not kill each other," said Charles McCune, a local driver.
McCune said road rage is a real fear.
"You could be taking someone's family member away and that's not fair, so everybody needs to just drive safely," said McCune.
He said road rage is something he experiences from other drivers almost every day.
"I've had people cut me off and flip me off and all the fun things, so I guess…it happens all the time," said McCune.
Jillian Warner has also been in dangerous road rage situations.
"I've had someone try to hit my window with their fist. They came out of their car at a red light," said Warner.
"We are noticing that people are losing their patience, we are seeing more incidents where people are confronting each other, because someone cut them off, or traffic is backed up and they are trying to get to an appointment. So we are seeing where people are not able to control themselves," said Anthony Holloway, St. Petersburg Police Chief.
Chief Holloway said since the pandemic, his officers are seeing more road rage incidents than ever before.
He said more people are moving to Florida and the population increase is causing issues.
St. Pete Police said they receive at least one emergency road rage call a month.
"It can get very dangerous because you don't know what type of weapon that person has in their car," said Chief Holloway.
Chief Holloway said drivers should give themselves plenty of time to get to their destination, and de-escalation is key.
"So if you see someone like that either just back off or make a turn in another direction or call 911," said Chief Holloway.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
