You might think speeding or alcohol would take the title of ‘biggest killer on the roads’, but you’d be wrong.
Contrary to popular belief , ‘road rage’ takes the top spot… the phenomenon lurks behind a whopping 66% of traffic fatalities according to safemotorist.com.
If you’re hitting the road with the family, Holly Wainwright and Andrew Daddo have the games, quizzes and stories to keep everyone entertained. Post continues after audio…
‘Road rage’ is never a concept I’ve been familiar with. I thought there wasn’t much more to it than muttered profanities, and the occasional horn-honk.
But then I had my first run-in and it’s utterly terrifying.
Driving along a quiet neighbourhood street, a man in a parked white BMW pulled out in front of me. Without indicating. I replied with a firm application of the brakes and reactionary horn honk.
His toddler was strapped into a child seat in the back of his car.
It’s not up to me make judgment on who was at fault (it was him). But I can say, definitively, that the way he reacted to the situation was unwarranted. And violent.
Instead of driving on, he stopped his car. In the middle of the road.
I thought he might’ve been winding down his window to apologise. Or he realised, all of a sudden, he forgot to do his child’s seatbelt up. Maybe he accidentally left the handbrake on.
Then the door opened. He got out onto the road and slammed it behind him.
What followed was a barrage of offensive filth, insulting me, my driving skills, and my family members. None of whom he knew. I wound down my window in an attempt to have an conversation. You know, like adults.