October 5, 2017
Volume 47 - No. 39 by Friedrich Gomez
On February 8, 1994, one of the most infamous road rage incidents would occur. Famous Hollywood actor, Jack Nicholson, would make worldwide news, but not for his superb acting skills on the silver screen – but rather for a road rage scenario for which he was the principle player.
According to court records, Jack Nicholson stated that the driver of a Mercedes Benz, identified as Robert Blank, cut him off in traffic which greatly angered Nicholson. The driver, Robert Blank, claimed that while he was stopped at a red light, the multiAcademy Award winning actor approached his car brandishing a golf club and proceeded to violently bash the roof and windshield of his Mercedes Benz automobile. As an apologetic Nicholson would later confess, “I went out of my mind.” In court a witness confirmed Blank’s version of testimony. In the wake of Jack Nicholson’s apologies, charges were dropped and the two parties reached an undisclosed settlement, which sources said included a $500,000 check from a contrite Nicholson.
In US Magazine, Nicholson called the road rage, “A shameful incident in my life.” However, in a follow-up interview with Golf Digest in 2007, the actor found room for levity: “I was on my way to the (golf) course, and in the midst of this madness, I somehow knew what I was doing because I reached into my trunk and specifically selected a club I never used on the course – my 2-iron.”
High-profile celebrity road rage is nothing new. As far back as April 12, 1971, actress and television producer, Shannon Doherty, did not spare the suds when she broke a beer bottle on a car during a fit of rage. And “Pretty Woman” star, Julia Roberts, allegedly succumbed to road rage when the notorious paparazzi took candid photos of her children. Roberts was said to have swerved all over a Los Angeles road leaning on her car horn and forcing the paparazzi to pull over to the roadside whereupon she vocally unloaded on the photographers for taking unauthorized pictures of her kids. The erratic driving, alone, was said to have been a danger to herself, her children, as well as to other drivers on the road at the time. There are numerous other high-profile incidents involving celebrities or wellknown sports figures and road rage, such as with former NFL New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs running back, Joe McKnight, who was shot and killed in a road rage occurrence just last year, on December 1, 2016. IS ROAD RAGE NEW? No. Drivers of automobiles have long argued and
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A Dangeerous, Growing E id miic Epidem
even engaged in fisticuffs as far back as the automobile itself. It just wasn’t popularly called “road rage” back then and such behavior behind the wheel was a very rare occurrence.
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Today, road rage has escalated to dangerous levels leading to injuries and even death. With greater populations and vastly more automobiles on the roads, along with congestion and traffic jams, patience behind the wheel has
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greatly deteriorated. Drivers are far more aggressive and drive at greater speeds today, often recklessly, sometimes cutting other vehicles off or tailgating – all of which cause greater