Road Rage Near Philadelphia

Philly.com reports.

John Yannarell was a middle-aged engineer living a quiet life in a bucolic hilltop exurb in outer Montgomery County, as the single parent of a teenage daughter.

Now he faces criminal charges, including attempted murder, in a startling allegation of road rage directed at a seemingly random driver on Route 422 in early-morning traffic.

Elizabeth Cox, 31, was driving east toward her job at an eye doctor's office when she called police at 7:15 a.m. to warn of an "erratic driver swerving in and out of traffic" behind her, police said. Near Mile Marker 186 in Upper Providence Township, she pulled into the right lane to let him pass.

Then the worrisome car, a silver 2008 Buick Lucerne, passed her on the right shoulder and the driver fired a gun at her, police say.

Cox first felt "a jolt or a bump and thought someone has sideswiped her," Trooper Denea L. Durham said.

But when Cox saw blood, she realized she had been shot - apparently by the middle-age white man she saw driving down the shoulder.

It turns out he was not all that law-abiding at least when it came to driving. Maybe his boat and his web site weren't enough to "blow off steam."

Court records show that Yannarell has been cited eight times since 2002 for disregarding traffic lights or stop signs in Montgomery, Delaware, or Chester Counties. He pleaded guilty in seven of the cases and was found guilty in the other. He was also cited for speeding in 2005 in Montgomery County.

Though he was a flawed driver, acquaintances said Yannarell displayed no warnings of a combustible demeanor.

Yeah, he was a flawed driver. What's the chance that a guy who has that much trouble obeying stop signs and red lights displays no other indications of instability? I'd say none. Maybe the folks in Pennsylvania have to look a little closer at the folks they allow to own guns.

And what about the gun? I hate an article that doesn't focus on the gun at least a little. I'd like to know what kind of gun it was, where it came from and what was he doing with it in the car. I'd like to know about his gun history along with his driving history.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.