Possible road rage motive raises troubling questions

Road rage has been given as the possible motive for the double homicide of Yeunkyung Woo and Hyo Kyung Woo, two sisters killed in the Purdue Village on Aug. 2.

This is the first time the rather new phenomenon known as "road rage" has been used as a possible motive in a murder case. "Road rage" is one of those late 90's quip phrases like "going postal" that's too cutesy to be taken seriously. It's unsettling to consider that this new terminology that carries a certain humorous air with it could be the very real cause of so sinister a crime.

But if we stop to consider the matter on a larger scale, the road rage motive seems like a headline-grabbing cop out. In the past, the American Justice system has shown its weakness at falling prey to pop psychology motives just as it has of making criminals guilty until they are proven innocent instead of the other way around.

Yin's offering of this motive to Purdue Police Chief Linda Stump feels more like an attempt to exploit this weakness or the lack of an imagination. Homicide for revenge, yes, but homicide for revenge for a car coming too close to a bike?

If Yin was telling the truth about his motives, perhaps there are deeper psychological issues to be taken into consideration. We've all been infuriated with other drivers on the road, especially in the ever more complex system of one way roads and dead ends that make up the Purdue campus. But when has the frustration from this bubbled up to the point where you seriously contemplate following another driver to their house and killing them? And, if this idea has ever come up, doesn't a saner, more rational voice prevail?

Have we truly reached the point where we can't depend on that voice of morality in other people?

Moreover, if road rage is truly an acceptable motive, what does it say about our society? Are we so intent on protecting everyone's rights that any trendy new syndrome is an excuse? When did we become so violent a people? With almost a century of automobiles and automobile-related frustration, why now?

n Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Tom McHenry, Erica Sagon

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Possible road rage motive raises troubling questions

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