Bend woman says road rage caused parkway crash

A Bend woman is was still shaken Wednesday after she said a road rage incident Tuesday sent her car across the median, facing the wrong direction on the parkway in Bend. This woman didn’t want to share her name, but did want to share her story.

She said she was going northbound on Highway 97 near Lafayette Avenue around 9 a.m. Tuesday and was in the passing lane when a car came speeding up behind her tailgating. She said he was clearly agitated.

“I was driving just a little over the speed limit, and next thing I knew, he was trying to pass me on the right,” the woman recalled Wednesday. “And I just remember looking over — which is kind of the scary thing about this whole thing — I remember looking over and seeing the jerk motion of the steering wheel.” That’s when she said he hit her.

Bend police Sgt. Eric Hagan said it’s an open investigation, but did confirm the other driver was taken to jail for the incident.

“I can tell you the male driver in that case, we did have probably cause to arrest him for reckless driving. The evidence supported the crime of reckless driving,” he said.

According to a recent study, road rage incidents have been increasing in recent years. The National Highway Safety Administration found that “road rage causes a relatively small, but increasing percentage of fatalities on U.S. roadways, linked to 467 fatal crashes in 2015 or 1.3 percent, up from 80 or 0.2 percent in 2006, an increase of almost 500 percent in 10 years.”

While Bend police can’t say they’re seeing more road rage specifically, they are seeing more traffic issues overall.

“One thing that I’ve been seeing a lot more with traffic complaints is the volume of calls that come in, of people making the complaints of things that happen around them or to them,” Hagan said. “The second thing that I’m seeing is increasing speeds, so when we’re conducting speed enforcement, I’m seeing some of the higher speeds” than reported before.

Hagen said if anyone ever feels like they’re in a dangerous position involving road rage, they should go ahead and use their phone to call 911, and stay on the line until they get to a safe place.

The woman involved in the parkway crash says she’s thankful for all the first responders, as well as passers-by who stopped to help. She said she just wants to see people slow down and be courteous to others when they’re on the roads.

“I love Bend, and a lot of people love Bend, and we want to keep our roads safe here,” she said.