Letter to the editor: Why do Arizona drivers become so angry behind the wheel?

On our way to the Diamondbacks/Yankees baseball game, on the Loop 202, my husband went to switch lanes from the HOV lane to the fast lane. He looked but did not see a blue pickup truck in his blind spot.

The male in the blue truck blew his horn.

I asked my husband if he had cut that driver off and he responded that he hadn’t meant to, but he had not seen the truck. He was grateful that the driver was able to respond and not hit us.

But suddenly, the driver of the blue truck went around us on the left, cut in front of my husband and brake checked us twice. He then moved over to the HOV lane and slowed down, apparently waiting for us to catch up to him on his right.

As we went by, he threw something at our vehicle.

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Thank goodness no damage was done to our vehicle, and thank goodness he did not have a gun.

My question is why do some become so angry when they are behind the wheel? I have been cut off many times while driving and I let it go.

I just wish that when people are behind the wheel of a vehicle, they offer a bit of grace to other drivers. Being cut off is not the end of the world, and is not meant to be an affront to you.

Let it go and move on to drive another day.

Marchea Sovde, Mesa

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Arizona lawmakers blocked another effort Wednesday to repeal a near-total ban on abortions dating from 1864 that the state’s top court ruled was “enforceable” earlier this month. One Republican voted with Democrats in the GOP-controlled state House, but that wasn’t enough to advance two motions to hold an immediate vote on repealing the ban, NBC News reports. House Speaker Ben Toma urged representatives to vote against the motions. “The last thing we should be doing today is rushing a bill through the legislative process to repeal a law that has been enacted and affirmed by the legislature several times,” the Republican said.

When a repeal effort failed last week, Democrats in the chamber chanted “Shame, shame” at their GOP colleagues. “I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is the murder of children,” Toma said Wednesday, per the Arizona Republic. “It is not OK to shout at each other, it is not OK to engage in the kind of behavior I saw on this floor last week.” Democrats, who hope to flip control of the state House and Senate, plan to keep pushing for repeal, CNN reports. Abortion rights advocates also hope to get an initiative protecting access to abortion in November. Last week, Donald Trump said he thought the Arizona court’s ruling went too far. (More abortion stories.)

• Trump said last week a near-total, Civil War-era abortion ban in Arizona had gone too far.
• But Republicans Wednesday shut down an attempt to repeal it.
• The law makes providing or helping with an abortion punishable by up to five years in prison. 

Arizona Republicans shut down an attempt by Democrats to repeal a contentious abortion ban from 1864 that was reinstated by the state’s Supreme Court earlier this month.

Democrats attempted to introduce a bill Wednesday that would repeal the ban during a state House legislative session, NBC reported. But two votes moving to discuss the bill failed.

“I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is, in fact, the murder of children,” Republican House Speaker Ben Toma said, according to NBC.

The ban has gotten pushback from many in the GOP, including former President Donald Trump and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake — both of whom are seeking reelection later this year. (That said, Lake praised the ban while campaigning for governor two years ago.)

Trump, for his part, said last week that the ban had gone too far. “That’ll be straightened out,” he said. “And I’m sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason.”

The law effectively bans abortion — including in cases of rape and incest — except if a pregnant person’s life is in danger. It makes providing or helping someone get an abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Prior to the ban, abortions in Arizona were allowed through 15 weeks of pregnancy.