By now, several people have seen the video of the e-bike rider who repeatedly hit a truck with a hammer. Apparently, the road rage incident began with a simple altercation. The e-trike driver allegedly suddenly cut in front of the truck and the truck driver then kept honking. The honking irritated the e-bike rider and a verbal tussle ensued. Unfortunately, the truck driver kept taunting the e-bike rider daring him to hit the truck. Things then escalated when the e-bike rider obliged and began smashing parts of the truck with his trusty hammer. Fortunately for the truck driver, the e-bike rider only hit parts of the truck and not the truck driver himself. As it is, the e-bike rider will probably have several cases filed against him for that one incident of unrestrained aggression.
It is interesting to note that some netizens are blaming the truck driver for taunting the e-bike rider. In their mind, the truck driver was at fault or at the very least should be punished more. Clearly, many people should be educated on the basic principles of law. Even if one is taunted, one cannot use that as a legal excuse for violence, threats, or damage to property.
Under our laws, aggressive driving acts can be punished as a traffic violation. When an altercation occurs, the acts constituting road rage can be punished under the Revised Penal Code depending on whether or not a person is injured or properties are damaged. Some local governments have their own ordinances about aggressive driving and road rage incidents.
With the increasing number of road rage incidents, perhaps it is time to enact a road rage law. During the last congress, there was a proposed Anti-Road Rage Act. House Bill 5759 was filed seeking to sanction drivers who intimidate, threaten, or attack fellow motorists on the road either verbally or physically. According to the bill, even “mild to moderate screaming, wild gesturing at others, cursing using bad language, physical attack or an attempt thereof, reckless driving, any threat or intimidation, any use or force against another person or analogous circumstances” would constitute punishable acts of road rage. If the bill is passed, many of the acts seen on social media would immediately fall into the said definition. There would be no need to have lengthy processes in proving a long list of elements to prove a crime or violation.
I highly hope that a bill like this could be passed into law. My only suggestion is that the penalties be increased. Also, the normal personalities of road rage violators should be taken into consideration. Most perpetrators of road rage have certain common traits, like impatience or low levels of tolerance to stress. I recommend that an additional penalty of immediately forcing violators two weeks of a daily boring seminar on rules and emotional management be included. People with low patience would certainly go crazy and climb the walls. In addition, a final test of seeing or forcing them to suffer taunts and insults without reacting should be passed. Combined with zero tolerance for road rage violators and high pecuniary penalties would go a long way in curbing road rage and perhaps save lives.
This is my oblique observation.
