John MacDonald: Road rage is getting worse - here's what needs to happen

Road rage is getting worse according to survey results out today, and I think it’s time we made road rage a specific criminal offence.   

I’ll come back to that but, first, how about this for a story? A guy’s driving around Governor’s Bay when this boy racer starts tailgating him, then stops in front of him, pulls out a baseball bat and starts smashing the guy’s windscreen.  

That was a week ago.   

Then we had someone else sent to prison last week after stabbing someone in an apparent road rage incident in Riccarton. It happened back in September on the corner of Blenheim Road and Clarence Street when two guys got into an argument.  

The guy who was sent to prison last week got out of his car with a pair of scissors and stabbed this other guy before taking off.  

He turned himself into the police sometime after that, and he was sentenced last week. 

So you consider cases like that and the incident in Governors Bay the weekend before last, and you think no wonder we’ve got new stats out today saying nearly 50% of Canterbury people think road rage has got worse here in the past year. It's 60% in Auckland.   

So, surely, the time has come for us to make road rage an actual criminal offence?  

At the moment, no one can be charged with road rage. It can lead to people being charged with things like assault, intent to injure, and reckless driving. But I think road rage needs to be made a specific offence.  

I see it in the same light as the stalking laws the Government wants to introduce. Like road rage, stalking can lead to people being charged with other offences.  

So why not do the same with road rage?  

AA Insurance has found that, broadly, 1-in-10 Kiwis have been involved in a road rage incident of some sort in the past year.  

They’ve experienced things like tailgating, being cut off by another driver, being tooted at excessively, and being yelled or screamed at by another driver.   

Exactly the sort of thing this guy on Banks Peninsula went through. According to his post on Facebook last night, it was 12:10am and this boy racer was tailgating him when he, obviously, at some point overtook this guy, stopped in front of him, got out with a baseball bat and started smashing up the guy’s car.  

And he’s now on Facebook asking people who live in the area if they’ve got any security footage that might help identify the vehicle involved.  

He’s trying to track-down a Rego number so the police can, maybe, do something about it. Because, according to his post, the police didn’t do anything on the night.  

Although the police have told our newsroom this morning that he was “unable to make a statement at the time” and was provided with information to help him report the incident online. The police did confirm that it was reported to them just after midnight on Sunday March 2.  

The guy who was attacked has posted a photo online showing the windscreen smashed on the driver’s side. It must have been absolutely terrifying for him.  

As Beau Paparoa, who is one of the bosses at AA Insurance, is saying today - things like tailgating not only increases the risk of rear-end collisions. It’s also distressing and dangerous for the people being tailgated.  

But it goes next level when you’ve got some muppet not only tailgating you, then passing you, and stopping right in front of you, and getting out of their car and taking to yours with a baseball bat.  

I don't think leaving things as they are and only charging people with other offences, and not charging them specifically with road rage, is going to do anything to fix the problem.  

From my experience, I would say road rage has been a major problem for a long time now. Whether I can say that I think it’s got worse here in

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from news Talk ZB road Range.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
We'll talk about road range. It is getting worse in
Canterbury according to new stats out today, and I think
it's time we made road rage a specific criminal offense.
I'll come back to that, but first, how about this
for a story. How about this true story. Are guys
driving around Governor's Bay when this boyd racist starts tailgating him,

(00:40):
then stops in front of him, pulls out a baseball
bat and starts smashing the guy's windscreen. That was a
week ago. Then we had someone else sent to prison
last week after stabbing someone in an apparent road rage
incident in Rickitton. You'll remember this one. We're talking about
it when it happened back in September on the corner

(01:03):
of Blenham Road and Clarence Street, when two guys got
into an argument and the guy who was sent to
prison last week got out of his car with the
parisissors and stabbed the other guy before taking off. He
eventually turned himself into the police sometime after that and
he was sentenced last week. So you consider cases like

(01:24):
that and the incident in governors made the weekend before
last and you think well, we think, well, no wonder,
We've got new stats out today saying that nearly fifty
percent of Canterbury people think road rage has got worse
here in the past year. So surely the time has

(01:44):
come for us to make road rage an actual criminal offense,
because at the moment no one can be charged with
road rage. It can lead to people being charged with
things like assault or intent to injure in reckless driving.
But I think road rage, I think it's gotten to
the point where it needs to be made a specific offense.

(02:07):
I said in the same light as the stalking laws
that the government wants to introduce. I mean, like road rage.
Stalking can lead to people being charged with other offenses
if they take it to a certain point, So why
do we do the same with road rage? And the
stats I mentioned have come from a survey done by

(02:28):
AA Insurance. It found that broadly, one in ten kiwis
this is around the country, one in ten Kiwis have
been involved in a road rage incident of some sort
in the past year, and nearly fifty percent of people
in Canterbury think has got worse than the past year
and we're talking about things like tailgating, being cut off
by another driver, being tutored out excessively, being yelled at

(02:50):
or screamed at by another driver. You know, the type
of thing that this guy went through, this guy who
lives at Wa Niwi on Banksman, and the sort of
thing you went through the weekend before last, which, by
the way, I don't know if it's coincidental, but that
was also the weekend when all those racers were in
town for that big organized event, and the cops were
pretty busy and taking cars off the road and all

(03:11):
that sort of stuff. So according to this guy's post
on Facebook last night, it was ten past midnight and
this boy racer was tailgating him from Rapaki when he
obviously at some point overtook him. Then he stopped in
front of him, got out with a baseball bat and
started smashing up the guy's car. And he's now on

(03:33):
Facebook asking people who live in Littleton and up on
DIA's Pass Road have forgotten his security footage that might
help identify the vehicle involved. He's trying to track down
a RIDGI number so the police can maybe do something
about it, because, according to this guy's Facebook post. The
police didn't do anything about it on the night when
he called them up. Now the police have told our

(03:53):
news room this morning that this guy was quote unable
to make a statement at the time, and so he
was provided with information to help him report the incident online,
and the police did for him to us this morning
that it was reported to them just after midnight on Sunday,
the second of March, and the guy who was attacked

(04:14):
his posted photo online showing the windscreen. It's smashed on
the driver's side and it must have been absolutely terrifying
for him. As Bo Paparoa, who was one of the
bosses at AA Insurance, as he's saying today, things like
tailgating not only increases the risk of rare end collisions,
but it's also distressing and dangerous for the people being tailgated.

(04:36):
You know it goes, but it goes absolutely next level
when you've got some muppet not only tailgating you, but
then stopping right in front of you and getting out
of the car and taken to your car with a
baseball bat. And I don't think leaving things as they
are and only charging people with other offenses and not
charging them specifically with road rage, I don't think leaving

(04:57):
it as it is is going to fix the problem. Now.
From my experience, I would say that road rage has
been a major problem for a long time now. Whether
I can say then I think it's got worse here
in Canterbury in the past twelve months, I don't know.
But nearly half of us think it has according to
these survey results. So surely the time has come for

(05:19):
us to up the ante and make road rage a
specific criminal offense.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
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