Road Rage

* We suffer from an appalling crisis on our freeways where road rage continues to build fear, intimidation and even death. I think I now know why the situation isn’t getting any better. My mother, a 79-year-old from Huntington Beach, was recently confronted on the local freeway by a young man who felt she wasn’t driving fast enough. He drove adjacent to her car, rolled his window down, and tossed a rock out the door toward her car. Fortunately it was deflected and did not injure her.

But she had the presence of mind to write down his license number. I told her to inform the Highway Patrol of the incident and that, at worst, they might contact the driver and tell him he was seen to have committed such a crime, even if they couldn’t arrest him. To my surprise, they told her that with her word only and no actual injury, they couldn’t take a report and were not able to do anything! This is amazing. It would appear that unless an officer actually witnesses such an incident, no corrective action can or will be taken.

BOB WALTERS

Orange