12-12-2024 1:35am

Road Rage Continues to be a Problem in New Mexico

Chris Edwards Editor

Research has identified the states where road quality, speeding and guns play a factor in frustration in drivers, with New Mexico ranking in the top of Road Rage Incidents.

Roads defined as acceptable are those with an International Roughness Index (IRI) of less than 170. The lower the IRI, the better the road quality and the less rage it will likely trigger among drivers.

Worst Roads:

According to an analysis, Hawaii has the most rage-inducing roads in the US, where only 61.3% of roads are deemed acceptable. Therefore, identifying that 597.8 miles of the 1,545.5 miles of road analyzed in the state have an IRI of more than 170 and do not qualify as acceptable, and their low quality may induce rage among road users.

In New Mexico, where only 66.8% of roads qualify as acceptable and have an IRI of less than 170. This equates to only 8,031.1 of the 12,021.3 miles of road in New Mexico as acceptable.

Last year according to Everytown Research and Policy, New Mexico was at the top when it comes to road rage shootings. It analyzed numbers from the Gun Violence Archive Database and found from 2018 to 2022, road rage deaths more than doubled from 70 to 141.

Just last year, nationwide, someone was shot and injured or killed during road rage, on average, every 16 hours.

However, states like New Mexico, Montana and Wisconsin provide evidence that you don’t need clogged roadways to create a recipe for road rage or reckless driving. Both New Mexico and Wisconsin’s relatively uncrowded highways have a concerningly high rate of road rage incidents involving guns, something Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group, says is becoming increasingly common. And while Montana has one of the lowest numbers of drivers per mile in the U.S., the state still managed to rack up more than 100 fatal accidents attributed to aggressive or careless driving in 2022.

As previously reported on MyHighPlains.com, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that New Mexico leads the country in the number of drivers who excessively speed, and ConsumerAffairs identified Albuquerque as one of the top three cities in the US with the worst drivers.

The drivers in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma also contribute to the particular local traffic habits and issues in Amarillo, Texas.

In New Mexico it hosts 2.08 road rage incidents with a gun per 100K residents: 2.08, accidents with fatalities due to aggressive and/or careless driving per 100K residents: 9.94, percentage of accidents due to aggressive and/or careless driving: 50.1%, aggressive and/or careless driving or speeding violations per 100K residents: 1.85.

While America’s affinity for driving is a hallmark of our highway system, not all drivers share the road safely and courteously. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides the following tips if you encounter road rage or someone driving recklessly.

Move over. If you’re in the left lane or middle lane, move to the right and allow the driver to pass.
Back off. Give speeding drivers space, as they’re more likely to crash.
Keep watch. Pay attention to your surroundings, and steer out of the way of an unsafe driver.
Call the police. Call 911 immediately if someone is following or harassing you.

If you experience rage or frustration behind the wheel, experts advise pulling over, taking a few calming breaths and only merging back into traffic when your anxiety and stress feel more manageable.