Colorado State Patrol says it responded to more than 31,000 calls of road rage in 2022.

According to a CSP news release, the 31,760 aggressive driving calls the agency responded to in 2022 represent a 4.5% increase compared to 2021. Aggressive driving can look like tailgating, cutting someone off, flashing a weapon, or escalating the confrontation by getting out of the car.

“If someone cuts you off, tailgates, or makes a rude gesture, you may be tempted to get even but just don’t,” Colorado State Patrol Chief Matthew Packard stated in the release. “No one ever thinks anger will turn to violence, but it can and it does.”

In 2022, there were more calls for aggressive driving than impaired driving, which was up 7% in 2022, Colorado State Patrol stated in the news release.

In December, a 58-year-old woman was shot in a road rage incident in Wheat Ridge. In November, a man was arrested after his passenger began shooting at an off-duty officer. The passenger later died by suicide. Interstate 225 was closed for over an hour in October due to a road rage incident.

“Your best response is to keep your composure, let the aggressive driver move on, and do not engage. It’s simply not worth your energy or the risk,” Packard stated in the release.

Drivers who encounter an aggressive motorist on the road can call CSP’s “real-time” aggressive driving hotline, which was started in 1998, by dialing 277. The hotline allows Coloradans to report an aggressive driver without using the emergency line.

If a road rage incident turns violent, motorists should call 911.

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