Vehicles are increasingly the terrorists’ weapon of choice

The New Orleans attack is the latest in a long list of incidents in which violent extremists used motor vehicles to commit mass murder. 

The ideology changes but the weapon remains the same: Vehicles are readily available, easy to use and very lethal. 

The fall 2010 issue of Inspire, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s online magazine, contained an article titled, “The ultimate mowing machine. Tips for our brothers in the United States of America.” 

The article provided detailed instructions on converting a pickup truck into an improvised tank and using it to run down pedestrians. 

“Pick your location and timing carefully,” the article advised. “Go for the most crow[d]ed locations,” preferably “pedestrian only” areas likely to be packed with people. 

“If you have access to firearms, carry them,” the article concluded, “so that you may use them to finish off your work if your vehicle gets grounded during the attack.” 

The man who used a pickup truck to murder 10 people and injure more than 30 others in New Orleans may never have read the article, but he followed its instructions almost to the letter, suggesting that this sort of vehicle attack has become a standard tactic in the terrorist playbook. 

The perpetrator drove his pickup at high speed into crowds celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street before crashing and engaging police in a gun battle in which they shot him dead.  

Authorities found weapons, an improvised explosive device and an ISIS flag in the vehicle. 

This incident is the latest in a series of vehicle attacks conducted in Europe and the United States since the publication of the Inspire article. 

On May 21, 2013, two Islamist extremists ran down British soldier Lee Rigby outside his barracks in South London and then tried to decapitate him. 

The deadliest vehicle attack so far took place on July 14, 2016, when an ISIS-inspired man drove a large truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, killing 86 and injuring more than 400, before being shot dead in a gun battle with police. 

On Dec. 19, 2016, another Islamist extremist killed a semi-trailer driver, hijacked his truck and ran down people attending a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, killing 11 and injuring 56.  

The following March a British Islamist used his car to kill four people on Westminster Bridge in London. He then stabbed a policeman to death at the gates to Westminster Palace. That August, a member of an Islamist terrorist cell ran over pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain, killing 13. 

The U.S. did not escape this new terrorist tactic. 

On Halloween 2017, an American supporter of ISIS rammed pedestrians on the Hudson River Bike Path in New York City, killing 8 and injuring several others. 

Not every terrorist was motivated by Islamist extremism. 

On August 12, 2017, a white supremacist used his car to kill a counterprotestor at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. 

An Islamophobic man drove his truck into a family of five in London, Ontario, on June 6, 2021, killing four of them. 

The man accused of killing five and injuring 200 with his car at a Christmas Market in Magdeburg, Germany in December also expressed Islamophobic views. 

Vehicle attacks are difficult to prevent. 

The perpetrators are usually lone wolves, self-radicalized individuals with no known affiliation to an extremist group although the New Orleans perpetrator may have had accomplices. 

Al Qaeda and ISIS have actively encouraged unaffiliated individuals to strike a blow on behalf of the cause with the promise that the groups will celebrate the attacks after they occur. 

Far-right extremist groups are usually careful to avoid open incitement of violence, but their toxic rhetoric has inspired numerous lone wolves.  

Trucks and cars are low-tech weapons, readily available and easy to operate.  

Open-air events and venues crowded with people are easy targets for terrorists wanting to cause mass casualties, particularly when they do not discriminate among men, women, children, the old and the young. 

That does not, however, mean that the authorities cannot do a better job of securing public spaces.  

The alleged perpetrator of the Magdeburg massacre used an emergency vehicle entrance that the police had not properly secured to gain access to the pedestrian market. The authorities also failed to act on warnings about his disturbing behavior prior to the attack.  

Steel bollards that could have blocked the entrance to Bourbon Street had been removed. The perpetrator went around a police car parked at the street's entrance, driving through the crowded pedestrian area at a high rate of speed unobstructed.   

Given Magdeburg's recent experience, this oversight seems particularly egregious. 

There is no such thing as iron-clad protection. Authorities must balance the need for collective security against the public demand for unrestricted freedom of movement. 

Americans have a low tolerance for the inconvenience and delay that even modest security measures necessitate. 

The history of terrorism reveals that societies become hyper-vigilant in the immediate aftermath of an attack but grow complacent as the memory of the incident recedes. 

Americans were hypervigilant after 9/11, but that consciousness waned over time. 

Attending events and visiting venues will always entail a degree of risk, but refusing to attend them amounts to taking oneself hostage to fear and giving the terrorists a victory. 

People must, however, exercise situational awareness. That entails surveying the area around them, noting points of entrance and egress. It also requires looking out for suspicious behavior and unattended packages.  

Unfortunately, the drinking that occurs at events like New Year’s celebrations diminishes such awareness. 

As with all such incidents, the perpetrators of vehicle attacks often exhibit aberrant behavior prior to striking. 

Family, friends and associates rather than the police are best positioned to spot those warning signs but are often reluctant to report a loved one. 

Based on its successful use, the motor vehicle will remain a weapon of choice for terrorists across the ideological spectrum. 

We cannot prevent such attacks, but we can diminish their effectiveness. 

Tom Mockaitis is a professor of history at DePaul University and the author of “Violent Extremists: Understanding the Domestic and International Terrorist Threat ."