Keep your cool on the road

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Road rage is the expression of the amateur sociopath in all of us, cured by running into a professional.
–Robert Breault, American operatic tenor

Road rage (or road bully) cases are on the rise and have become a pandemic of its own in our country.

What is road rage? I will quote Wikipedia as I find its definition clear and precise: “It is aggressive or angry behaviour exhibited by motorists. These behaviours include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians or cyclists in an effort to intimidate or release frustration. Road rage can lead to altercations, damage to property, assaults, and collisions that result in serious physical injuries or even death.”

That in a nutshell defines road rage or bully.

I was also a victim of a road rage incident when two mat rempit stopped me. In the incident on June 20 on a small street in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, I honked at the two reckless riders who nearly caused me to knock into a 4WD vehicle.

My honking infuriated them and they waved me down. I stopped my car and decided the only way to get out of the situation was to let them know I was not intimidated. I quickly got out of my car and was prepared to face them.

They hurled all the expletives they could think of at me. I remained cool and did not retaliate. But they went overboard when they threatened to bash me up. That was enough to go for my good old hockey stick in the bonnet.

I told them: “Jika saya meningal, sebelum itu saya pastikan salah seorang daripada kamu mengikut saya, seperti mana kamu cakap kamu akan hantam saya sampai mampus (If I have to go, I will make sure I bring one of you with me”.)

That was enough for them to back out. I guess sometimes you have to behave like a thug to tackle another ruffian.

Recently, in a latest reported incident of a road rage, a video clip of a factory supervisor assaulting a female driver in Tapah, Perak emerged on the internet.

In the incident on June 5, the woman driver and her brother were travelling in a car to Cameron Highlands. She admitted attempting to overtake a car driven by the man.

The man stopped, scolded and threatened her, and proceeded to hit her on the forehead. The nearly one-minute clip went viral on social media which led to the accused’s arrest and prosecution.

For his hasty action, he was jailed seven days.

We also hear of road rage incidents in Sarawak, though it may not be as common as in Malaya. But I believe some incidents might have gone unreported.

In Kuching on Feb 25 this year, a 51-year old mechanic was fined RM5,000 for assaulting a young man with a baseball bat in a road rage incident near a factory.

He suffered injuries to his head, eyebrows, hands and feet.

Apparently the victim had been driving recklessly which almost led to the middle-aged man’s car to crash. When the latter’s request to the victim to stop his car was ignored, the infuriated man rammed his vehicle into the young man’s car forcing him to pull over by the side of the road.

The middle-aged man then proceeded to hit the victim with the baseball bat which left the latter unconscious at the scene.

Cases of road bullies are getting more frequent in this country. Findings by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety show some 2.5 million out of the 13.3 million registered drivers lose their cool and are easily temperamental while on the road, especially when they are caught in traffic.

According to Associate Professor Dr Law Teik Hua of the Road Safety Research Centre of Universiti Putra Malaysia, road bullies are the result of a lack of awareness about road safety or tolerance.

How do we curb road rage cases?

Existing laws may not be deterrent enough to resolve the problem. The authorities should propose punitive laws like longer jail terms and higher fines. The current practice of just issuing summonses in most cases may not stop road bullies.

Motorists should not be allowed to get away with just light fines. Fines have to be heavier and the culprits should be asked to do time for a longer period.

What constitutes road rage? Here are some acts that count as road rage: Honking and yelling; curses and threats; striking another vehicle; rude and offensive gestures; aggressive and reckless driving: tailgating; forcing a driver off the road; and blocking.