When curse words and flipped birds quickly turn into twisted metal and worse

Three months, three criminal cases involving road rage between Modesto, Jamestown and Sonora.

In the most recent, a 20-year-old Modesto man, Adrian Gomez, died four days after suffering severe brain trauma during a road-rage confrontation June 18.

In each of the Tuolumne County cases – one April 10, the other June 1 – a child was in one of the involved vehicles. Both times, vehicles were rammed, but neither child was injured.

Hopefully, the three do not herald a trend, and might get people to rethink their behavior on the roads. Because call it what you want – distracted, careless, rude, aggressive – there’s a lot of bad behavior out there.

In response to a Bee request for traffic experiences, area drivers painted an ugly picture:

“You should see what goes on” during afternoon rush hour on Kiernan Avenue and eastward across the north part of the county, said Salida resident PJ Sessa. “Some are doing 70-90 mph, my guess. They cut in and out like they are driving in a video game. And some even pass on the shoulders or use turn lanes to cut ahead.”

Lavonne Tollison of Modesto said she recently was in heavy traffic at the Briggsmore Avenue-Sisk Road intersection. Briggsmore drivers had the green light until “the light changed and cars kept entering the intersection on the red. Sisk-to-Orangeburg drivers, now with the green, became enraged at the blocked intersection and began meandering through the intersection that had become a parking lot. One car pulled into the fray and laid on the horn. The situation was both frightful and hysterical.”

And Lisa Wlodarczyk, who lives on 20th Century Boulevard in Turlock, a stretch already dangerous because trucks, vans and cars parked along the road reduce visibility, said it’s made worse by bad drivers. “Every day is a gamble,” she said. “... I’ve almost gotten hit a few times” by people driving above the speed limit. But instead of offering a mea culpa, “they honk, flip you off. It’s scary.”

That’s one of the things about aggressive drivers: They’re unlikely to respond with, “My mistake,” when called on their actions.

“Most situations seem to stem from minor traffic violations such as cutting someone off in traffic or tailgating,” said Sgt. Andrea Benson, spokeswoman for the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office. The offended driver then might make what “can often feel like a harmless and justified response,” she said, like yelling, cursing or gesturing.

Thing is, it doesn’t always end there. “People do not know what the other driver they are reacting to – gesturing at/cussing out – might have,” said Modesto resident Cynthia Vazquez-DeSilva. “Wanting to talk crap could cost you or your loved one’s life.”

At the very least, that other has a vehicle – a deadly weapon itself when a situation “is taken to another level,” Benson said. In the April incident in her county, a Sonora man twice rammed his pickup into another vehicle before he and the other driver got out and began fighting. Both suffered minor injuries.

In this month’s case, a Copperopolis man faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon after accelerating into a man who’d gotten out of his car, the Sheriff’s Office reported. The man struck suffered major injuries.

It doesn’t take much to set people off, some told The Bee. “I yell when people don’t use blinkers,” Modesto resident Michelle Kehoe said.

Ashley Robinson of Modesto said, “Get off the phone! I am enraged when the light turns green and red again before anyone goes.” Slow drivers in the fast lane on the freeway also irk her, she said.

Others caution to let the anger slide.

Tollison, 66, said the years have mellowed her. “In younger years I, too, would lay on the horn, give the finger and scream aloud in my car every insult I could think” when angry at another driver.

Jennifer Custard Armes advises being proactive in your safety and giving a wide berth to those texting, driving slowly or being “all-around idiots.” And “if someone is already angry, gesturing/yelling at you, don’t react. They’re like bullies – don’t give them the satisfaction of a reaction and they’ll stop soon enough.”

What works for cyclist Steven Stratton? “I’m always getting cut off. Once I make eye contact with them, I point to my GoPro camera on my helmet.”

Benson said the Tuolumne Sheriff’s Office urges people who experience road-rage incidents to try to get the license plate of the vehicle, pull over safely and call law enforcement. Do not engage in aggressive behavior, but rather “remove yourself from the dangerous situation.”

Advised Ceres resident Micki Nicol, “Remember that getting to where you need to go safely is the most important thing, not being a few minutes late, not blocking someone who is trying to merge. ... Always, always drive defensively. And, please, put those phones AWAY.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "When curse words and flipped birds quickly turn into twisted metal and worse."