Is Road Rage a Crime in California?
This is a question many people are asking themselves as they see an increasing number of incidents on the news that are referred to as “road rage” or when they themselves become the victim of an aggressive and irate driver’s anger and frustration on the roadway.
What Does Road Rage Mean Under California Law?
The term “road rage” cannot be found in the law books as a crime in and of itself, because it is not a particular crime. It is a term that was coined by a news station in Los Angeles in the mid 1980’s to describe certain freeway shooting incidents that were occurring in LA at the time. Since then, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has defined road rage as when a driver “commits moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property; an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger of one motor vehicle on the operator or passengers of another motor vehicle”.
In other words, it describes the mental state of someone who is exhibiting anger or frustration while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle that may be directed at another person(s) or object that they may be focusing that anger or frustration on at any given time. If that anger or frustration is acted upon in some way that it injures or frightens another person or damages some property, then you have a road rage incident that may be charged in a criminal court as a specific crime such as assault with a deadly weapon or just assault (there is a difference and that will be explained), a criminal threat, brandishing a firearm or a variety of other assaultive or threatening type crimes.
Can Using a Vehicle to Threaten Someone Be Assault?
In California, Penal Code section 240 defines assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on another person. This means that someone just needs the present ability to harm another person…one does not have to actually touch another person to assault them. If you are driving down the road in Palm Desert and a person in another vehicle believes that you just cut them off in traffic and become angry about that, and that other person then tries to slam his car into yours, but fails to actually make contact, that other driver has assaulted you. He or she had the ability to slam their vehicle into your and tried to do so but was not successful. So, the anger that other driver was exhibiting because he or she believed that you cut them off in traffic would be termed road rage by the media. The cops would call it an assault with a deadly weapon, because that assault just mentioned was while the other driver was in a vehicle that has the weight and speed to do significant damage to your vehicle and cause you significant injury. That vehicle the other driver is driving is considered a deadly weapon and if arrested, that driver could be charged with Penal Code section 245, assault with a deadly weapon.
Can a Road Rage Incident Lead to Felony Charges?
If such an assault actually is completed with actual contact and injury to the alleged victim, then the assault could even be considered attempted murder if the motives and reasons point to an actual mental state where the driver tried to seriously harm the alleged victim. Prosecutors sometimes like to imply these motives and reasons to the accused person to build up their case to the most serious possible charge.
It is important to note at this point that what sometimes seems to be a minor confrontation on a roadway can easily be elevated to a serious crime by resulting injury to an alleged victim…yes, what may have started out as misdemeanor type behavior could become felony behavior and charged as such in a criminal case. A felony case could mean the possibility of a state prison commitment.
Why Can a Roadway Confrontation Become a Serious Case?
We want to emphasize without sounding too alarming that many types of incidents on the roadway that just start out as an unleashing of frustration from a bad day at work or from a problem at home could escalate to a serious criminal offense. It is illegal to try to use your vehicle as a weapon against another person or vehicle or to imitate the holding of a firearm or the actual showing of a firearm to another motorist or to a pedestrian to try to scare them. These are potential criminal offenses that can get someone arrested and charged in court with a misdemeanor or felony offense.
Talk With a Palm Desert Criminal Defense Attorney
If you are involved in any such incident and are fearful of arrest or if you have any questions about your conduct, please call us as soon as possible to schedule a free consultation about your circumstances.
Call or text us at any time, day or night, 7 days a week at 760-898-0205.
Call (760) 345-4777 or Text (760-898-0207) for a free consultation to discuss what your legal rights are and possible defenses in your case.
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