WATCH: Driver unleashes anger after motorist bumps his car at garage
The silly season is in full swing, and is graphically illustrated in a video showing an accidental scrape at a garage.
The accident that triggered a brutal beating at a Caltex petrol station. Image: Twitter/video screenshot
Road rage is a notorious problem on South Africa’s roads, in addition to the high number of fatalities.
Anger, frustration, accidents, and brawls are bad on a normal day in the country, but certainly escalate over the festive season.
For one such motorist, an accidental scrape caused by another driver at a Caltex petrol station triggered a brutal fistfight.
ALSO READ: One suspect arrested after Randburg road rage incident
In the video, a white Hyundai i10 can be seen filling up at a petrol pump while parked at an obscure angle when a blue car attempts to drive around him and ends up scraping the left side of the i10.
The driver of the Hyundai then approaches the car, after the driver of the blue car stops to assess the damage, and presumably apologise.
Things definitely did not go as planned, as the Hyundai driver unleashed his frustration on the blue car driver. He immediately slaps and punches the driver multiple times, and proceeds to pin the victim to his car, despite various people, including the petrol attendant, trying to diffuse the situation. The relentless beating goes on for at least a minute before the Hyundai driver finally relents and goes back to his car.
The driver of the blue car nurses his face while he slowly gets back into his car.
HOW NOT TO EXPRESS UR ANGER… pic.twitter.com/eXMopJUhA3
— REZA (@crimeairnetwork) December 20, 2018
It is unclear what happened after the incident, the extent of the blue car driver’s injuries, and if the i10 driver was arrested.
Road rage is defined as an incident of angry and aggressive driving. Although the incident at the Caltex garage did not take place on the road, the emotions associated with road rage still apply.
It includes an assault on a driver, either physically or using a motor vehicle, or any dangerous weapon, and is considered a criminal offence.
Psychologist Dr Jacques van Zyl explained that the rage aspect of these incidents was as a result of an extreme energised state of anger that had been suppressed for some time, and accumulated just before a person lashed out in reaction to an incident.
Rage leads to increased self-esteem and a massive adrenaline rush, which drastically reduces rational thought while increasing physical ability.
Van Zyl explained that although road rage was not classified as a separate psychiatric illness, most psychiatrists refer to people prone to road rage as having intermittent explosive disorder, or IED. Up to 7% of the population suffers from IED, which is characterised by “extreme expressions of anger up to the point of uncontrollable rage which is disproportionate to the situation”.
A combination of psychotherapy and medication is recommended for treatment.
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