ROAD SAFETY and breakdown cover specialist GEM Motoring Assist is encouraging drivers to protect themselves by being alert to early signs of road rage. The warning follows release of disturbing dashcam video appearing to show an angry driver in the West Midlands shunting a fellow motorist and causing a high-speed crash.
GEM road safety officer Neil Worth commented: “Most of us will have some experience of being on the receiving end of someone else’s aggression. Thankfully, violent and unprovoked attacks are rare, but it pays to be observant and if possible to recognise signs of trouble at their earliest stages.”
GEM has identified a few steps (taken from its ‘Courtesy on the Road’ leaflet) that will hopefully reduce the risk for a driver of being the target of someone else’s aggression:
1 Keep calm and show restraint. Every journey brings the risk of frustration and conflict. Make a pledge to be patient. Avoid using your horn or making gestures in anger.
2 Avoid competition and resist the desire to ‘get even’. If the standard of someone else’s driving disappoints you, don’t attempt to educate or rebuke them.
3 Don’t push into traffic queues. If you wait and clearly signal, you won’t wait long before another drive lets you in. But they don’t like being forced into giving way.
4 Say thank you, say sorry, Courtesy encourages co-operation on the road. If you make a mistake (and we all do!) or perhaps cut things a bit fine, then a gesture of apology avoids confrontation and helps defuse anger.
5 Move away from trouble. If you feel seriously threatened by another driver, then ensure your car doors locked and drive (at legal speed) to the nearest police station or busy area (petrol station forecourts are ideal). Use your mobile phone to alert the police. Pressing the horn repeatedly or continuously is likely to deter a potential attacker.
Neil Worth concludes: “We encourage drivers to leave plenty of time for their journeys, which means they can feel calm and in control at the wheel. Stress can lead to risk taking, and this in turn increases the likelihood of aggressive incidents.
“We also urge drivers to avoid becoming involved in situations they recognise as dangerous or risky. If you’re worried about another driver who may be in danger, then stop and call the police.”
Free copies of GEM’s Courtesy on the Road leaflet are available for download from http://www.motoringassist.com/the-gem-story/leaflets/
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