A Fort Myers man shares with Four In Your Corner his terrifying experience while sharing the road with a frustrated driver. Experts say road rage cases here in Southwest Florida are more common than you may think.
Jay Anderson says his personal encounter with an enraged driver is one he will never forget.
"I was on the way to teach a high risk driver course at Lee Memorial Hospital when I was cut off by a driver on the cell phone," he said.
Anderson blew his horn and motioned the driver to put down the phone. As he drove passed the driver, he says he could see the rage in the man's face rising; then he noticed he was being followed.
"I began performing a series of evasive maneuvers and he stayed with me," Anderson said. Before I knew it, his hand was in the glove compartment, out of the glove compartment with a gun and he comes and points the gun at me."
Trish Routte with Crime Stoppers says tempers are flaring on local roads.
"We're definitely seeing more incidents of rage," Routte said. "people are just having absolutely no patience."
Lee County Deputies says Lester Bermudez Lozada shot a tow truck driver in Lehigh after a verbal argument.
"It's clearly a guy that's got perhaps a bit of a temper issue and that temper came out to a total stranger."
Tips lead to Bermudez Lozada's arrest but Crimstoppers is still looking for Edgar Kellar for a violence rage in Lee County.
Kellar is accused of pepper spraying the driver next to him who had a child in the back seat after the man asked him to stop yelling obscenities.
Routte says there isn't a possible explanation as to why road rage is on the rise.
"People are just having a total lack of patience."
Routte says tips can be life changing to families. She emphasized true anonymity is promised when you submit a tip. Once you call, you're given a code number and there is no caller ID, calls aren't even recorded so there is no trace. If your tip leads to an arrest, you are eligible for a cash reward.
If you have any information on recent crimes, you can call crime stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS
