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SOUTH JORDAN — A mother urged all drivers to do better after an unnerving road rage encounter over the weekend that she feared could have put her children in harm's way.
Katie Koelliker and her family were heading east along 10400 South on Sunday when another car sped past them in the right lane and honked its horn.
"He was just tearing out of control," Koelliker said. "Every red light he'd put his foot on the gas and keep trying to speed up, and we'd all catch up to him."
Eventually, the two cars found themselves at the intersection of 10400 South and Redwood Road. Koelliker said the other driver decided to confront them.
"The guy in the car in the right lane started yelling back at our car about, 'learn how to drive,' 'get out of the left lane,'" Koelliker told KSL-TV.
Koelliker said she hadn't experienced road rage to that level, and the ordeal was concerning enough she took a photo of the other car and reported the driver to South Jordan police.
Children were 'rattled'
"It scared our kids," Koelliker said. "Our younger kids were definitely right behind the seats, they were seeing everything that happened and they were a little rattled by what happened."
The encounter resonated even more when Koelliker learned about another road rage case in Sandy that same day where police said a driver fired multiple shots at another driver. Investigators said the suspected shooter had his 3-year-old and 6-year-old children in the car with him.
"My mother had let us know that there was the road rage shooting in Sandy that involved children," Koelliker said. "It was still really scary to think that on the same day that, I'm assuming, multiple road rage incidents probably happened and one escalated to the way that it did and that children were involved."
Koelliker encouraged all drivers to remain calmer behind the wheel and stay out of these types of situations.
"It's unfortunate that our kids have to live in a society where they see things like that or they hear about traumatic things like that happening, and we can all do better," Koelliker said.
