There’s a disturbing shift in road rage trends. Multiple aggressive and potentially deadly driving behaviors are skyrocketing. But incidents of yelling at another driver are plummeting. So how are drivers communicating their anger? It may be with deadly threats instead of words.

Aggression rises while communication decreases

An AAA study on road rage found major shifts since 2016. Honking in anger has increased 47%. Purposeful cutoffs are up 67%. Of everyone surveyed, 92% had witnessed risky behavior such as speeding, tailgating, zigzagging, or even street racing.

As mentioned above, yelling at another driver dropped 17%. But another form of communication is shockingly common: one in five drivers said they know someone who’s been threatened with a weapon on the road.

“In total, 20% of drivers reported that they personally know someone who has been threatened by a weapon in a road rage incident, while 12% of drivers reported personally knowing someone who has been injured or killed in a road rage incident.” — AAA study.

 SafeMotorist.com claims 37% of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm. It cites a combination of data from the NHTSA and AutoVantage auto club.

The Everytown Support Fund, a gun safety nonprofit, adds that on average, someone in the U.S. is shot during a road rage incident every 18 hours. It cites Gun Violence Archive data from 2023. In that year, 483 people were shot on the road, resulting in 118 deaths and 365 injuries.

The National Institutes of Health writes that there is “limited research on firearm storage patterns in vehicles.” But there has been a “surge in firearm purchases after March 2020.” There has also been a corresponding surge of reported thefts of firearms stored in vehicles.