New York, Sep 21 (IANS): The attacks on freeway drivers are not only on the rise in some heavy commuting areas in the U.S. but that highway assaults are causing increased fear during everyday driving, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the latest state crime reports.

Federal data shows that in some states, including Washington and Texas, shootings on highways are up over 50 per cent in the last five years. And in a handful of communities, police have expressed frustration in trying to thwart the crimes, which are difficult to trace because shooters often are unseen and flee well before police arrive, said USA Today on Friday in its report about the finding, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The lure of the open road is a quintessentially American draw. But a drive can easily take a turn for the worse and outbursts of violence on the highway leave indelible images of slain motorists and destruction -- and also undermine the feeling of safety on the 48,500 miles of interstate highways where American motorists drive the most," it noted.

Among the deadly incidents in the country are heavily armed riflemen on the sides of highways, motorists looking to kill someone who cut them off in traffic, and young pranksters who fling melon-sized rocks at passing cars, said the report.

The numbers for road rage alone, just one segment of the highway violence problem, have risen exponentially. Everytown Research & Policy found that the number of road rage injuries and deaths involving guns has increased every year since 2018. In that year, at least 70 road rage shooting deaths occurred in the United States; in 2022, the number doubled to 141.

"Road rage incidents resulting in death feel particularly symptomatic of a society that has lost connection with itself and each other because of the way in which a moment of frustration can turn so tragic so quickly," U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander M.M. Uballez was quoted as saying.