Utah highway patrol reports use and early enforcement of road‑rage enhancement law

Colonel Mike Rapich of the Utah Highway Patrol summarized implementation and early enforcement of the 2024 road‑rage law, which defines aggravated vehicle-based threatening or intimidating conduct on a roadway and provides criminal and administrative enhancements.
Why it matters: the statute was created to target aggravated conduct that endangers other road users by creating a distinct criminal enhancement for vehicle-related threatening conduct so courts and prosecutors can treat those events more severely where appropriate.
Rapich said the law increases penalties by one degree (for example a class B misdemeanor can be enhanced to class A) and permits administrative steps such as impoundment and, for repeat incidents occurring in a single year, automatic license revocation. The law also created a restricted account funded by fines to support education, outreach and public information about road‑rage prevention.
Data and enforcement: Rapich reported that from the effective date through the data cut used for the briefing there were 89 incidents that resulted in 142 charges filed in district court (more than one charge or more than one defendant per incident is possible). The Highway Patrol also reported more vehicles impounded under the statute than the number of cases filed to date.
Education: the Highway Patrol and partners produced five short videos and ran targeted paid media and outreach, funded in part by a grant from the family of a road‑rage victim and by the restricted account from collected fines. Rapich said materials aim to narrow the definition and help target interventions and prevention campaigns.
Ending: Rapich said the agency will continue to refine data collection and conviction tracking to better target outreach and enforcement.