CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte family is thankful for their safety after a driver waved a gun at them last week during an incident of road rage in Charlotte. As the family was traveling to a Christmas party, the incident was recorded on video thanks to the cameras on their Tesla vehicle.
It happened on a busy section of Providence Road near the Arboretum Shopping Center in south Charlotte.
“I thought he was going to cut in front of us, so I honked the horn and that’s when the incident began,” Chris, who didn’t want to share his last name, told WCNC Charlotte.
Last Saturday, he and his wife Jennifer were heading to Uptown with their two teenagers in the back seat of the car. Video captured through their Tesla shows the moments the driver in a white sedan speeds up behind them, switches lanes, and almost hits another car in the right lane. In slow motion, the video clearly shows the driver of that sedan threatening them with a gun as they pass.
“He had his window down and the gun was out. And it’s just like your life flashes before you because I’m thinking, 'My kids, and I’m are screaming,” Jennifer said.
Luckily the driver went off in another direction and the situation didn’t escalate any further. Ultimately the video helped when the couple filed a police report.
“We showed them the video and they said it was pretty clear what happened," Chri said. "They were able to investigate and find the suspect and arrest them."
Road rage and aggressive driving are on the rise.
About 500 people were injured or killed in road rage shootings in 2021, according to Gun Violence Archive records. That's up about 200 shootings from 2019.
Everytown Research & Policy found the number of road rage injuries and deaths have increased yearly since 2018. 2021 was the worst year yet. Last year, an average of 44 people were shot and killed every month in a road rage incident. That’s one road rage incident every 17 hours.
Road rage is something every student who goes through the driving school at CMS is taught to avoid.
“Do not engage with or make eye contact with the person who is suffering from a road rage incident," Connie Sessoms, a driver education specialist with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said. "If you ever feel unsafe, always please call 911 immediately and try to remove yourself from the incident."
AAA suggests anyone experiencing road rage stays in the car and drives to a busy public place like a police station or hospital.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.