I-15 near Point of the Mountain in Lehi is pictured on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Utah saw two separate, fatal road rage incidents this week, the latest in what officials say is an increasing number of aggressive driving cases in the Beehive State.
On Sunday, 38-year-old Michael Brown, of Eagle Mountain, was knocked unconscious in a fight in Lehi at about 1:40 p.m. Lehi police say he cut off and brake-checked another driver, who then followed Brown into a neighborhood where the two got into an altercation in front of Brown’s children. He was taken from the scene by helicopter and pronounced dead on Tuesday.
Lehipolice arrested 43-year-old John Williams for investigation of aggravated assault, according to a probable cause affidavit.
On Monday, 63-year-old James Edward Saccato, of West Point, was shot after Clearfield police say he was involved in a car accident and fled the scene. The other driver pursued Saccato, called 911 and followed him into a neighborhood where a confrontation ensued. According to police, Saccato was shot and killed and the shooter was questioned but released.
For Utah Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, the two incidents underscore the importance of a bill he worked on this past legislative session, aimed at increasing penalties for drivers who succumb to road rage. Sponsored by Rep. Paul Cutler, R-Centerville, Road Rage Amendments takes effect July 1.
“I wish it were already in effect,” said Weiler, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.
The law defines road rage as a criminal action “with the intent to endanger or intimidate an individual in another vehicle.”
Jeff Buhman, executive director of the Utah Statewide Association of Prosecutors and Public Attorneys, said it’s one of the first laws of its kind in the country.
“A lot of states are seeing an increase in road rage but we’re one of the early ones to address it,” he told Utah News Dispatch.
The law increases penalties and fines for cases of road rage — a class B misdemeanor is enhanced to class A misdemeanor, and a class A misdemeanor is enhanced to a 3rd degree felony. People convicted of road rage twice or more in one year will have their driver’s license revoked, while police can also seize their vehicle. Drivers guilty of road rage could be fined up to $1,000.
Those enhancements can also be applied to passengers in the vehicle if they throw objects or brandish a weapon.
Fines from these incidents will then go toward a road rage awareness and prevention campaign, according to the bill.
While the law mostly addresses misdemeanors, Weiler hopes it will deter or stop fatal incidents like what happened this week by taking aggressive drivers off the road and giving law enforcement “another tool in their toolbox.”
“A lot of road rage incidents occur in vehicles that weigh about 5,000 pounds or more and are traveling 60, 80 MPH or more. And split-second decisions are actually costing people their lives, and it appears to me and to many others that since COVID-19, there’s been a spike in these road rage-type of incidents. When people started dying, it certainly caught my attention,” Weiler said on Wednesday.
Data from the Utah Department of Public Safety shows that 23 of the 279 roadway deaths in 2023 were defined as “aggressive-related fatalities.”
And while that’s a slight decrease from 2022, where Utah saw 28 fatalities related to aggressive driving, data from the last several years suggests it’s a growing problem on the state’s roads. According to DPS, there were eight fatalities linked to road rage in 2019, 25 in 2020, and 27 in 2021.
The state is able to track the most egregious, fatal instances of road rage — but currently, Utah has no system to collect data on lower-level offenses.
“Anecdotally, we hear from prosecutors that it is an increasing problem, but it’s hard to pin it down because there isn’t a statewide database,” said Buhman.
If someone engages in and is arrested for road rage today, they might be charged with something like speeding, reckless driving or brandishing a weapon. But nothing on their record will suggest it was a road rage incident.
That’s set to change in July, with the law allowing prosecutors and judges to see a road rage enhancement on a perpetrator’s criminal history, which in turn gives the state a way to collect data.
“A year or two from now, when we have more data, we can make a data-driven decision as to whether the bill is going too far, not far enough,” Weiler said.
Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com. Follow Utah News Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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