Video footage capturing two vehicles colliding in a road rage incident last week has been making the rounds on social media.
Two videos captured an incident occurring on an overpass between I-35E and I-635 at around 1:45 p.m. on March 1. While the start of the encounter was not captured, the footage shows two drivers — one in a black pickup truck with a flatbed trailer and the other in a grey Ford Escape — squabbling.
The first video was taken by another vehicle, while the second came from the pickup truck’s dashcam.
The Ford Escape appears to be brake-checking the truck, which attempts to move around it by passing to the left. The SUV then tries to prevent the truck from passing, resulting in a collision between the two vehicles, with the front bumper of the Escape ripped off by the flatbed trailer being pulled by the truck.
As the truck speeds away, the SUV moves over onto the side of the motorway. No one appears to have been injured, and it is unknown whether the Dallas Police Department is investigating the incident.
Road rage incidents have escalated into considerable violence in North Texas, with last year ending with a man fatally shot in Fort Worth, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Last summer, a man was shot multiple times in an alleged road rage incident in Plano. The purported shooter was booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Video from another road rage incident in Garland went viral not so much for its violence but for the apparent lack of decorum shown by an off-duty Austin police officer.
Dallas County and Collin County had increases in traffic fatalities in 2022, according to a report from the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Meanwhile, Collin County and Denton County logged increased crashes.
However, Dallas regularly finds itself ranked among the most dangerous cities for driving nationwide. Looking at data from 2020 to 2022, Forbes recently ranked Dallas No.6 in the country among cities with the worst drivers due to the city scoring high for fatal collisions involving drinking and driving (a rate of 6.25 per 100,000 residents) as well as speeding (5.69 per 100,000 residents).
Vehicle-related crime has also been rife, with motor vehicle thefts already outpacing the massive surge seen last year. Data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard shows that 2,903 motor vehicle theft reports have been logged as of March 6 — an 18.2% increase from 2023.
Downtown Dallas has become ground zero for motor vehicle theft, especially when compared to Fort Worth’s city center, which is patrolled by a dedicated special police unit and private security guards.
Staffing issues have dampened DPD’s response to crime, with just 3,000 officers fielded despite a City report recommending a force of 4,000 for a city the size of Dallas. Meanwhile, City leaders budgeted DPD just $654 million this fiscal year, electing to spend much less on public safety than other high-crime jurisdictions, like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
