South Africa’s roads are one of the most dangerous places motorists can find themselves. Not only is the country’s death toll sky high but incidents of road rage have flared up over the last few weeks.
One of the major problems is that it has escalated from verbal abuse, such as the shouting of a few choice words not suitable for print, to downright physical violence where people have been assaulted with an axe, shot or dragged over the tar.
Arrive Alive defines road rage as “an incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger intentionally injures or kills another motorist, passenger or pedestrian, or attempts or threatens to injure or kill another motorist, passenger or pedestrian.”
According to Mpumalanga traffic officer
Mr Rassie Erasmus, most people prone to road rage are extremely short-tempered.
“People are impatient and that is a recipe for disaster. They then get angry and start intimidating other motorists through verbal abuse.”
Erasmus also mentions the importance of getting into a vehicle with an open mind and being relaxed.
In his professional capacity, Erasmus has seen a number of motorists, shouting, waving fingers and showing all sorts of indecent signs.
“My advice is to ignore aggressive drivers. Do not get involved in a tussle with a person who thinks the road belongs to him. The best thing is to apologise.”
According to Erasmus there are many people who may not have caused the ructions, but then get into trouble when they get into a an altercation. Your actions can have major consequences,” he warned.
The feeling of rage will typically lead to elevated self-esteem, adrenalin rushes, lack of rationality and an apparent increase in physical ability. Although this feeling will only last for a little while, it needs to be spent. There are also no law which provides penalties for road-rage-related incidents and therefore it is something that is difficult to control and fully manage. One of the methods which can be used to curb it is to educate the youth on responsible driving as well as fostering a road tolerance for other users.
According to Erasmus it is difficult to fully control and monitor road-rage incidents as it is difficult to draw the line between a quick verbal dispute between drivers or a physical attack.
Another problem is that many people are scared of getting blackmailed or intimidated if they report reckless driving.
“People do not want to take the first step to report incidents. This is the only way the traffic department can take action against a driver,” Erasmus said.
