Road-rage reports on rise

If you think drivers in the Flathead Valley are more rude, reckless, ruthless and rushed, you might be right.

Local law-enforcement officers have noticed a change in drivers that's not just about the increased volume of traffic. And it's not just tourists causing the problem.

"I think traffic is a lot ruder than it used to be," said Dave Leib, patrol lieutenant for the Flathead County Sheriff's Office. "I've been flipped off a couple of times recently in my own rig."

Reports of road rage, once a rarity, appear daily now in law-enforcement logs.

"We get complaints all the time about aggressive driving," said Sgt. Roy Christensen of the Montana Highway Patrol.

A mentality exists that "if I cut somebody off, I feel I have a right to honk at them or flip them off or threaten them," Leib said.

"We're more impatient than we used to be," said Sgt. Rick Parker of the Kalispell Police Department. Aggression that starts on the highway often continues inside the city limits, where "we try to slow people down. We try to talk to them, a little education," he said.

Part of the problem, the officers agree, are roadways that weren't built for heavy traffic. Semitrailers mix with passenger cars and motor homes, with drivers jockeying for lane space and desired speeds, which don't always flow together.

"People in this valley think it's their God-given right to drive in the left lane" on four-lane highways, Leib said.

If you want to see highway hostility, watch the drivers behind "those who want to drive 45 (mph) in the left lane and refuse to move over," he said. "It creates a huge amount of frustration" when drivers "are not courteous enough to pull over to the right lane," when they're going below the speed limit.

It's also maddening to officers and emergency workers when drivers refuse to move over for lights and sirens.

"We deal with it all the time," Leib said, even though every licensing program in the state teaches drivers to move to the right and let emergency vehicles pass.

Leib's personal pet peeve is the area near Montana 40, north on U.S. 93 into Whitefish. The speed limit is 45 mph, but it's a virtual raceway, he said.

"Try pulling out there" from Montana 40, Leib challenged.

Christensen said increased traffic during the summer intensifies drivers' responses.

"People get a little impatient and start driving aggressively," he said.

It prompts complaints to his office, where troopers describe how the victim of aggressive driving can pursue a citation.

"It's their citation, not ours," though a trooper will appear in court with someone who signs a complaint, Christensen said.

The problem is, after the confrontation ends, almost no one wants to file a complaint.

"They ask us to call and warn" the offending driver, Christensen said. Troopers will do that, but he thinks that "if they follow through, there will be less complaints."

After 10 years, he's seen only three people who took a case to court, he said.

With patrol staffing stretched thin, drivers shouldn't depend on having an officer in range whenever a problem occurs on the road.

Christensen said the best thing drivers can do is watch their own navigating and worry less about others.

People who try to manage a cell-phone call or adjust their CD players pose one of the greatest perils in traffic, he said.

"Anything that takes your attention away from driving is bad," he said.

Another problem is residents who haven't adjusted yet to the change in traffic in the valley and get frustrated by congestion when they try to get to their destination.

"Plan ahead. You can't leave home when you used to be able to" and still arrive on time, Parker said.

Drivers who "are going too fast and cutting people off and running lights don't save a minute" of drive time, but they do pose a risk to others.

Drivers should be watching for traffic pulling out from stop signs and parking lots, he said.

"Anticipate what people might do," Parker said. Drivers might do something careless, but an accident is unpleasant no matter who's at fault, he said.

Crowded intersections are danger zones, Leib said. People trying to turn left by pulling into the intersection and waiting for a red light often don't anticipate the oncoming driver who also plans to clear the intersection just as the light turns.

Nobody would anticipate the stunt he watched the other day, when two motorcycle riders squeezed between heavy traffic on a two-lane road.

It gets heated out there, as law-enforcement logs prove.

Sunday, a motorcycle passenger reported two men in a Mustang that tried to run the bike off the road near West Glacier. On Monday, a driver near Lakeside said he confronted another driver, who threatened to run him over. On Sunday, at an Evergreen gas station, a resident reported an intoxicated man who took the resident's parking spot and threatened to beat him up. Also on Sunday, a driver reported a man speeding and weaving in and out of traffic, forcing the driver off the road on the way to the airport. The man explained that he was late for a flight.

"We live in the fast-paced world where we have no patience," Leib said. "It's worse than it ever was. Obviously, the volume of traffic is worse. Drivers are worse. We don't have time to be courteous anymore."

On the east side of the state, civility and a slower pace still exist, Leib said, but drivers in the Flathead can still avoid trouble.

"You can drive the speed limit. You can drive in the right lane. If you want to drive under the speed limit, pull over to the right and let the people by," he said.

If another driver seems reckless or aggressive, a simple solution can quell hostility, Christensen said.

"Back off and give him room," he said.

"The defensive-driving axiom is more important now than it was before," Parker said.