A new survey shows Florida tops the nation in road rage incidents. Florida Highway Patrol says to protect yourself, avoid confrontation.

Road rage shootings are on the rise across South Florida and many of them are deadly.

“If someone gets hit or a car gets hit that person might lose control of their own car.  That could hurt some other people and so the consequences of this are far reaching,” says Alex Piquero, who’s the Chair of the University of Miami’s Department of Sociology and Criminology.

“When people are traveling 75-mph on the highway and they’re taking a couple of shots in the middle of the night, there is not a lot of traffic.  There aren’t a lot of bystanders.  It’s really hard to see license plates in the thick of nighttime with not a lot of lighting, with not a lot of cameras,” Piquero tells CBS4.