ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF News) – The Arlington Police Department has a new hotline to report aggressive drivers.
The department discontinued a similar line back in 2008 but Sergeant Vanessa Harrison said it was brought back after a recent tragedy.
“It’s resulted from a homicide that we experienced last month. A 19-year-old man was killed and it was specifically due to road rage,” she said.
Harrrison said it’s human instinct to want to react to an aggressive driver but that could escalate a potentially dangerous situation.
“Because of this driver is a little more than just an aggressive driver, let’s say he’s driving while intoxicated or a rolling domestic, we want to be able to have the police show up. Paying attention to the vehicle description and calling 911 immediately is what we want people to do,” she said.
Another way the department tackled road rage incidents after the murder was the formation of an aggressive driving task force.
Patrol officers are looking for aggressive drivers including excessive speeding, tailgaiting, unsafe lane changes and other dangerous behaviors that can lead to road rage style incidents.
Since its inception, the department reports that 19 team enforcements lead to 464 traffic stops, 574 citations and 7 arrests.
Harrison urges drivers to be safe. She said getting angry on the road is just not worth a potentially dangerous end.
“Once you start down that road, no one can predict the outcome. You don’t get to stop it midstream and say ‘let’s reset’, you’re already in the middle of it. The best way to not even engage,” she said.
The hotline number is 817-459-5389.
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