State Police advise to avoid road rage after Abbeville fight captured on social media

Rodricka Taylor
·4 min read

ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY) — You may have seen the viral video on social media of a road rage fight between a biker and a driver in the middle of a busy intersection.

Chris Jones who witnessed the incident said he and his family were heading to Burns Point to go fishing. They saw the group of bikers who held a special needs rally.

“We stopped left them go and we followed them to the light and that’s where I noticed as we were pulling up to the light, that this gray car was in the middle of the road and the guy was heading to his truck. At that time, I was trying to grab my phone,” said Jones. “He pulled out a hammer and started walking up to the biker telling him to move. He started bashing in his headlights and then started swinging at the biker and by that time, I popped out my recorder.”

Jones said there was a special needs rally and the road captain blocked the intersection to allow the group to pass through. He said he recorded the fight just in case something happened to somebody they had video proof if somebody died.

“You wait for truckers to carry oversized loads, you wait for police escorting funerals, there’s no rush in life. I don’t understand why people just can’t wait,” Jones explained.

Trooper Thomas Gossen with Louisiana State Police said he saw the video, but could not comment on the incident itself as they are not investigating. Gossen discussed ways to avoid road rage.

Duson offers residents a new way to pay off fines

“You ask yourself, what is road rage? It’s somebody may be tailgating, speeding, cutting you off, might be somebody swerving in and out, not using signals. There’s a lot; preventing you from passing. We hear that a lot on the interstate system. Flashing lights to people.” Gossen said. “There’s a lot of aggressive driving out there and so when you look at that and you say, well, will everyone result in what you saw on video? Not necessarily. I mean, a lot of times we hear people maybe throwing objects or screaming at each other or obviously making gestures but when it gets serious, like ramming into another vehicle or side-swiping somebody or forcing somebody off the road, that’s extremely dangerous. That could be extremely dangerous not only to yourself but innocent bystanders.”

He said to give yourself time to get somewhere so you’re not so rushed and you’re not going to be more prone to act on emotion. Also, avoid driving with emotion. Be understanding of other drivers and build positive driving habits such as  not speeding, not weaving, not cutting people off, and using your turn signal. Another tip is to use your horn as low as necessary because that could cause a reaction.

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

KLFY Daily Digest

“Things like that will make for a better, more predictable drive for other drivers so you’re not misunderstood as to what you’re doing,” said Gossen. “Being understanding of other drivers. We’ve all done things while behind the wheel, maybe a sudden lane change or a sudden turn or just forgot to do certain things that we’re supposed to do and it’s made people angry. I think we needed to put ourselves in that position as well, that, we’ve done this as well. So we really want to try to practice these different ways to avoid road rage. Removing yourself from that situation. Obviously, if you can get away from them doing that.”

Another tip he mentioned is if you cut somebody off in traffic unintentionally, make a gesture to acknowledge the mistake.

“I think we need to be a little bit more understanding. Look, we’re getting into festivals, we’re getting into parade season, we’re getting into a lot of these things that go on as the weather improves. We’re going to have a lot more motorcyclists out there. We’re going to have a lot more Jeep clubs and different car clubs that partake in things like this,” said Gossen.

He said state police get multiple calls every day about aggressive drivers, especially on the interstate system where there are two major interstate systems including, I-10 and I-49.

“100,000 vehicles come through just this corridor every single day. So it’s a busy area and again, I think if we just kind of use that golden rule, treat others as you want to be treated, I think we can go a long way with preventing a lot of this from happening,” Gossen said. “One, if you can avoid this situation, by all means, do so. Get away from them. Let them get away. Don’t confront someone. It’s the same in a self-defense situation. If you can avoid a fight there never has to be a fight. I think if we drive with an ego, that’s when we get in trouble. So again, be courteous, be kind, and let’s stay safe behind the wheel.”

News 10 reached out to the Abbeville Police Department to see if they are investigating the incident, but did not received a response by news time.

Latest Posts

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLFY.com.