ROAD rage is not a disorder but it is about people’s ability to deal with their emotions, particularly anger, says psychologist Selina Kuruleca.
“We are fortunate we don’t have guns so people don’t resort to gun violence or worse incidents of road rage that we often read about in other countries. But we have had incidents where drivers get out of their vehicles and punch other drivers,” she said.
Her comments come in the wake of an incident last week where two buses were involved in a minor accident allegedly resulting from road rage.
Since January this year, the Land Transport Authority suspended 80 public service vehicle drivers for breaching the PSV code of practice.
LTA CEO Naisa Tuinaceva said speeding was the main reason for the suspensions, followed by unprofessional behaviour and poor customer service.
Ms Kuruleca said there was a potential for things to get worse and according to research, this was a global phenomenon —one where male drivers were identified as being more aggressive and likely to resort to violence when confronted with unruly attitudes on the road.
“But for us here we also have women who tend to get rather violent, like when they get cut off in traffic. Even waiting in traffic can cause a short-tempered person to get frustrated and get into a violent tantrum,” she said.
“Ethnically, there are some groups that are worse drivers than others and this also exists in Fiji. They don’t stop at the stop light, ignore the right of way rule and have no courtesy.”
She said there were more vehicles on the roads but roads had not been expanded accordingly.
“Drivers and pedestrians lack courtesy, people don’t follow the rules and this adds to the frustrations.”
She said the lack of courtesy by drivers and pedestrians was a result of the disproportionate number of people monitoring our roads.
“Then we have the issue of potholes and traffic lights that don’t work. All these add up to people’s frustrations and ultimately can result in violent acts or road rage. Like I said, we are fortunate we don’t have guns in Fiji.”
Mr Tuinaceva said they were concerned with such attitudes on our roads that could “evolve into violent behaviour known as road rage”.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said while there were no specific classification for the issue of road rage, they did note that some motorists had at times vented their anger and frustration verbally against other drivers.
“This can be deemed as a form of road rage. This has been noted particularly during peak traffic hours in the morning and afternoon and where roadworks are taking place.
“Considering the risk one would impose on others if they used their vehicle to vent their anger at others, this is why we would call on all road users to be patient and be considerate,” she said.
