Mumbai:
With increasing road traffic and lack of traffic sense among the drivers, road rage incidents have become quite common on the city roads. However, since most of these street fights are not registered, it's difficult to judge whether there is an increase in such incidents.
Nevertheless, people accepted that it is one of the most unpleasant experiences which diverts one's focus from the real objective and can lead to damage to one's vehicle and at times to oneself. "Earlier I used to get carried away with the feeling of revenge when someone used to overtake. As a result I used to compete with the person unknowingly which has led to road rage. However, with the time I have learnt to control my anger as this feeling has resulted in damage to my car. Besides, in the process one forgets the real objective and gets disturbed unnecessary.
Moreover, this feeling of rage stays back and spoils your day and journey as well. From my experience I have learnt that keeping calm is only way to drive safe," Gokul Kamath, a Vashi resident said.
Incidents of road rage have also resulted from over-confidence of people about their driving skills. "After driving for a couple of years, people get confident about their driving skills and try to overspeed the cars at wrong places, they don't follow traffic signs and driving rules. All this have led to major accidents as well as small fights on numerous occasions. It also leads to traffic snarls on the roads. The only solution to this problem is people maintain their calm while driving and obey the traffic rules willingly," said Vinodkumar Pillay, a Juinagar resident.
Signal cuttings, driving without helmet, driving four-wheeler without safety belt, talking on mobile phone while driving are some of the main reasons that have triggered a accidents or fights. "The above reasons are often seen behind the increasing rate of accidents. However, by not following the traffic rules people are putting their as well as others life in danger. When one person jumps the signal he also endangers the life of a person who is driving correctly after signal has turned green. Rash driving can be curbed by installing cameras on the road as it's done in Mumbai," shared Prasad Dalvi, a traffic police personnel.
When asked city traffic cops about the incidents of road rage, a senior official on condition of anonymity said, "We take action only if the person argues with us. If the two parties are fighting among themselves we tell them to take their cars off the road, so that there is no traffic jam. Thereafter, they are directed to local police station to register the complaints. Most of the times, people see us and they settle the issue among themselves, most of these are temporary fights and not registered with any of the police station."
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