The Los Angeles Police Department reported there were nearly 870 incidents of road rage in 2022 - the highest count in the last seven years. According to a study from Crosstown L.A., the number of incidents from last year are the highest since 2010.
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And incidents are getting more violent, according to LAPD data. In 2021 and 2022, nearly a third of incidents (31%) involved a gun. In 2019, that number was 16%.
So what's causing so much road rage?
Crosstown L.A.'s study stated heavy traffic, and efforts to tame it, may be a factor.
"It feels like Americans have become increasingly less patient with one another - that they are stressed in ways that are bringing out a lot of negative emotions," said Ryan Martin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who researches and writes on expressions of anger and why people express road rage.
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Martin also said a perceived anonymity drivers get inside a car could cause them to act out angrily.
He said when drivers encounter road rage, people should practice what he calls extreme defensive driving: avoid confrontation and let it go. Even though a natural instinct is to try to get revenge, he says it could lead to a tragic outcome.
The most recent high-profile example of road rage involved a Tesla driver accused of several incidents across Southern California. Nathaniel Radimak was charged with a dozen criminal counts last month.
Grace Manthey contributed to this report.