Road Rage?

In San Jose last week 27-year-old Andrew Burnett was convicted of felony animal cruelty in the death of Leo, a 16-month-old bichon frise who Burnett threw into traffic. Burnett, who will be sentenced on July 13, faces up to three years in prison. The incident is extreme, but illustrates that the issue of road rage still looms large. With traffic reaching an all time high, a possible economic slump on the horizon and a general feeling of uncertainty in the air, Angelenos have a lot to be frustrated about. So the Business Journal asks:

Have you noticed road rage increasing on the streets of Los Angeles?

Luis Campalans

President

RPS LLC

Actually I do a lot of driving and, yes, I have noticed that there's an increase. People seem to be on a rampage. A lot of times I see people fighting with themselves in their cars -- banging on their steering wheel, jerking left and right to get into an opening, that sort of thing. I haven't seen any outright fights, but I have seen people pull over and I don't know what happens from there. I fly by because I don't want to be there. People just seem overly stressed when they're driving.

Jason Jefferies

Program Director

KRLA Radio

No, I've noticed many more cars, however, so I don't think there's any room on the road for road rage. We're too packed in during rush hour.

Linda Levinson

Psychotherapist

I think people are feeling a lot more road rage, but I don't know if they're acting on it. I hear people talking about wanting to run red lights and push cars into traffic, for instance, when people are taking their time making left turn, some people talk about their fantasies of just wanting to push cars through. In a way that's close to what the man did with the dog. I think there's a reason why there's that phrase, "kick the dog." I hear people talking about their anger all the time. A lot of times when people show up at the office they spend some time talking about how hard it was to get here.

Ted Simpson

Vice President

Cushman Realty Corp.

I drive probably 1,000 miles a week and I haven't really noticed anything in particular. Some of my clients are from out of town, though, and they ask about it among a litany of issues.

Scott Rubin

Editor in Chief

National Lampoon

I would say road rage is a little worse in general. Nothing specific is coming to mind, but people seem a little more angry and stressed out lately. It's getting bad, if you make one wrong move people want to kill you. I'm going to have to trade-in my car's Laker flag to an all white surrender flag.