DETROIT (WXYZ) — "This is the most we've ever seen," said Michigan State Police 1st Lt. Michael Shaw, about the number of recent shootings on freeways in metro Detroit.
The latest incident was reported around 11:30 Sunday night on I-94 near Linwood in Detroit. And while Shaw said there is no known motive in this weekend's freeway shooting, he said the majority of the recent cases appear to be related to road rage.
"You may be mad at that particular moment in time, but that's going to last you about five seconds or so, but if you actually shoot somebody and kill them, you're going to prison for the rest of your life," Shaw said.
Action News talked to Dr. Rose Moten, a psychologist at Bloom Transformation Center in Detroit, about how people can help manage their emotions while behind the wheel to avoid dangerous confrontations on the road.
"You don't have to throw your life away or take away another person's life for something as minuscule as a dirty look or being cut off in traffic or not being let into traffic," said Dr. Moten who uses road rage as an example in "rational emotive therapy" with clients.
"I try to help them understand, it's not the activating event of being cut off in traffic or someone giving you a dirty look," she said. "What actually causes your reaction is your belief about that event."
"Challenge your belief. This is where you have to sometimes psyche yourself out," Dr. Moten said. "I tell people when someone cuts you off on the road and you believe, 'Oh, I've been disrespected' and you get all angry. Tell yourself, 'Oh, maybe they have a choking child in the backseat. Or maybe they're late for work and this is their last time before they get fired. And just that switch in belief systems will change your actions immediately."
"You have no way of knowing what their circumstance is, but challenging yourself to change that belief system can be difference between life and death," she added.
