AAA study asserts what Denver drivers are seeing more of on the roads

DENVER -- Road rage reports have gone up around Colorado this year, according the Colorado State Patrol records.

The Colorado State Patrol received more than 2,500 more calls for road rage incidents in June than they did in January.

In Denver County alone, the increase was by more than 1500 reports.   

But road rage is not isolated to Colorado.

A new AAA study shows that nearly 2-in-3 drivers think aggressive driving is a bigger problem now than it was three years ago.

Seventy-eight percent of drivers surveyed admitted to engaging in aggressive behavior on the road.

“Yeah,” said Kellie Costanza, who just moved to Denver from Kansas City, “I mean, I think everybody gets frustrated for sure.”

The most common behaviors drivers admitted they do on the road involved:

1.     Purposefully tailgating another vehicle

2.     Yelling at another driver

3.     Honking their horn “to show annoyance or anger”

So far this year, CSP reports more than 40,000 road rage calls around the state.

“I think it’s a lot better to not react rather than,” said Ann Johnston, who tries avoiding driving as much on the weekends when the roads seem busiest, “because some kind of violence or some kind of issue on the road, you just don’t know what can happen.”