North Texas police departments seeing more cases of road rage incidents

North Texas police departments are stepping up patrols and have developed task forces to deal with road rage incidents.

ARLINGTON, Texas - North Texas police departments are stepping up patrols and have developed task forces to deal with road rage incidents.

The issue is taking center stage over the past week after a string of road rage shootings in the area.

Law enforcement agencies across North Texas are faced with a similar problem.

"You have the combination of a bad day, heavy traffic, heat, someone showing you a lack of respect and for some people that’s a reason to pull a firearm," said Arlington Deputy Police Chief Chris Cook. "We probably average about one to two incidents a day where we get what’s called a ‘Be On the Lookout.’ It’s somebody driving aggressively."

Cook says while it’s not always easy to track them down, it’s worth the effort to stop road rage before it becomes violent.

"I don’t know if it’s more prevalent here, but we’ve certainly seen a lot of cases in the North Texas region," he said.

Dallas PD plans to ramp up police presence on highways this week after a trio of road rage incidents over the weekend, including a pregnant woman shot in the head after another driver cut off her boyfriend in traffic.

Over in Fort Worth, police are still investigating after a motorcycle driver parked his motorcycle on the freeway, walked over to an SUV driver and pointed a gun in his direction. That SUV driver pulled out his own gun, shooting and killing the motorcycle driver.

MORE: Fort Worth PD: SUV driver fatally shot motorcyclist in self-defense in road rage incident

Richard Alpert spent 30 years as a Tarrant County prosecutor specializing in vehicular crimes.

"Twenty years ago, it’d be a guy with his fist raised. That’s easy. Just don’t roll down the window," he said.

But fast forward to 2021, and Alpert says there may be more violent situations like the ones we saw this week, especially when constitutional carry goes into effect in September.

"So you say no training, no lessons, no experience. Here’s your gun? This is what’s gonna happen," he said.

But Cook says the problem is more nuanced.

"Certainly, the presence of firearms is not unique in the state of Texas. But I think what it is, is people making bad decisions," he said. "There are many lawful citizens that carry a firearm, and they are within their right to do so."

In 2020, the Arlington Police Department started tracking road rage incidents separate from other types of aggravated assaults. So far this year, Arlington has had 12 road rage incidents, compared to 10 at the same point last year.

"We gotta change driver behavior. We gotta give ourselves time," Cook said. "If someone cuts us off, we’ve gotta just go with it and back off."

Arlington has a road rage task force that picks out locations on freeways and strategically position themselves during rush hour, sometimes in unmarked cars. They also have a road rage hotline. They radio ahead to make a traffic stop.

Fort Worth PD says road rage cases are not in a category of their own. They fall under the type of criminal offense that occurred.