Washington State Patrol is telling drivers to be safe from road rage by being polite and courteous even if other drivers are not. Their press release also told drivers to signal when changing lanes, avoid eye contact with the angry driver, call police, but don’t pull your car over to do so and control your own anger. This after a number of road rage incidents. 

The Washington State Patrol reported an uptick in the number of “shots fired” calls related to road rage in 2022, with 133 incidents so far this year. Road rage incidents are on the rise in Pierce County, according to Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Darren Moss. 

So far in 2022, there have been 279 road rage shootings, which surpassed the previous record of 241 road rage shootings in 2021. In King County, there have been more road rage incidents involving guns over the past few years. According to WSP, King County road rage shootings have been increasing since at least 2017. Last year had the highest amount of road rage shootings with 235. So far in 2022, there have been 219.

 A man was shot during a road rage incident near the Riverview neighborhood in Seattle early Saturday morning, according to police, and the suspect is still on the loose. The suspect in the western Washington road rage shooting, that injured an 11-year-old boy, made his first appearance in court last Wednesday.

Jadan Maurice Davis-Gunn, 19, faces three counts of assault in the first degree and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. A 24-year-old woman from Everett was killed in October driving back home from Leavenworth. No arrest has been made related to her death. The woman’s family calls the lack of information “unsettling.”