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Thirty-Six-Year History of Fatal Road Rage in Marion County, Oregon: 1963-1998

NCJ Number
182159
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 397-399
Author(s)
Peter J. Batten M.D.; Dale W. Penn J.D.; Joseph D. Bloom M.D.
Date Published
March 2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This study documents the 36-year history, with five examples, of fatal road rage in Marion County, Oregon.
Abstract
Relevant details (all that were available) from each case are presented. Alcohol intoxication was present in four of the five cases examined. The study includes two deaths by gunshot at close range, two deaths as a result of a motor vehicle traffic accident, and one natural death. All subjects were males. Three were Caucasian, and two were Hispanic. The three subjects in cases one, two, and three were strangers to the occupants of the other involved vehicles. The subjects in cases four and five (along with the occupants of their own vehicles) were acquaintances of the occupants of the involved vehicle. There is apparently no previous forensic, medical, or psychiatric literature on road rage as such. This paper presents an initial psychiatric evaluation of the perpetrators of this type of fatal assault. There are no specific statutes in Oregon, at the State or county level, regarding road rage; however, the city of Gresham, Ore., recently enacted an ordinance regarding road rage. There is need for further study of this phenomenon, especially through the use of the psychological-psychiatric autopsy. 6 references

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