Priyanshu Jain, an MBA student at Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA) in Ahmedabad, tragically lost his life in a road rage incident on November 11th. The 23-year-old was stabbed by Virendrasinh Padheriya, a head constable in the city, following an altercation. Padheriya, who has a criminal past, was later apprehended from Punjab.
Priyanshu’s family and friends are devastated by his death, and both his hometown of Meerut and citizens in Ahmedabad are demanding justice. A series of protests have been organised, including a silent march, a candlelight vigil, and a peaceful hunger strike. Pranav Jain, his cousin, describes Priyanshu as a calm and composed person. “He only asked the cop to drive responsibly. The entire incident unfolded in just two seconds,” he said.
The arrested cop has an ongoing case against him for running a scam. “The police should have done a background check. How can someone like that serve in the police force?” says Pranav, “We demand the harshest punishment for him.”
The loss of a young and promising life is reflective of a malaise afflicting our public spaces: hostile behaviour and violence on the roads.
Infrastructure vs traffic violations
Such aggression is witnessed on busy streets almost daily. On a typical working day, private cab driver Nagaraj A navigates relentless traffic and searing tempers in Bengaluru. “The worst behaved are two-wheeler drivers, who do not follow traffic rules. Auto drivers are also aggressive,” he says.
Nagaraj adds that he sees microaggressions often on Outer Ring Road, Koramangala and Kadugodi. But, he stops short of blaming the people for losing their tempers. “The problem is with infrastructure,” he says. “I feel bad seeing single occupants in big cars adding to traffic. If only public transport was more accessible and the traffic better managed.”
Simani (name changed) reports facing discrimination as a woman driver. “I have experienced judgements and heckling. I stay calm and tell myself not to react,” she says. According to her, the overall irritation on the roads has increased in both Kolkata and Bengaluru, where she divides her time. “I’ve witnessed the usual shouting and screaming, though nothing extremely violent. People have much less patience now compared to five years ago. The amount of honking if someone takes a few seconds to move their car or is slow to start, is significant.”
Nitin Seshadri, a citizen activist, says that he too has seen tempers flare on roads. “People are prone to experience road rage in certain parts of Bengaluru, where ongoing construction work has led to an increase in vehicular traffic. For example, Outer Ring Road because of the Metro Rail construction and Sarjapur Road because of massive ongoing infrastructure projects.”
He notes that while road rage has increased over the last few years, severe incidents often occur when someone is under the influence of alcohol. However, he does not believe that traffic and infrastructure should be blamed. “That is a cop-out. I think people are aware of traffic rules but disregard them because they can get away with it, as there aren’t any stringent punishments. Look at cities like Bangkok and Colombo; they have equally bad, if not worse, traffic than Bengaluru, yet they follow the rules and are penalised if they don’t.” Thus, Nitin implies that the focus should be on driver behaviour.
Gautham M Sukumar, Additional Professor-Department of Epidemiology at the Centre for Public Health, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), weighs in on this. “We have not done large-scale population-based scientific studies on road rage, but we have some evidence from perception-related studies on youth.”
As road rage is an impulsive occurrence, it is difficult to anticipate and conduct actual observational studies. “These incidents are more likely to be witnessed by police, other road users/bystanders and the hospital staff, when a victim is admitted to the hospital. Hence, gathering perceptions and experiences of police, vehicle users, hospital staff and bystanders remains the more convenient way to understand road rage,” says Dr Gautham.
Read more: Explained: Key risk factors behind 60% of road crashes in our cities.
Factors behind road rage
Dr Gautham says multiple factors may trigger road rage in an individual, including driver-related and road environment-related factors. These could be:
- Discomfort because of the traffic conditions
- When a person is travelling alone or in a group
- The feeling that another person is at fault, which leads to irritation.
When irritated, people may:
- Refuse to give way to another vehicle.
- Hold grudges and sometimes follow and confront other vehicle drivers impulsively.
Whenever there is some damage to the vehicle, someone is likely to get hurt. But in that situation, they are not in a position to realise that they could be at fault.
Who is predisposed to road rage?
According to Dr Gautham, some people are predisposed to road rage. For example —
- Individuals who have personality disorders, or are battling psychological distress, are likely to feel worse in a traffic problem. So, the ability to be aware of the surroundings decreases and people get into fights.
- Road rage also increases with peer pressure, when people travel in groups. This may lead to mob behaviour, culminating in fights.
- Individuals with a self-perception of superiority, whether due to their status, social influence or the possession of a large vehicle, may attack those they perceive as inferior.
Usually, 95% of road rage cases are quite trivial, involving shouting and name-calling. But, sometimes it can get serious.
What’s the legal recourse against road rage?
Varini G, Research Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Karnataka, explains that the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) is more relevant for booking offences related to road rage than other traffic/road safety laws. “There is a specific section in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that deals with death due to negligence, and one of the subsections pertains to ‘driving recklessly and causing hurt to others, with or without intention.’ While one of the BNS provisions correlates directly to road rage, the MVA includes various provisions regarding dangerous driving, exceeding the speed limit, causing death, and obstructing different types of road users.”
Varini adds, “There are two types of punishments. One is penal, where you go to court, get convicted, and receive a jail sentence. Additionally, the MVA has a provision to suspend the offender’s driving licence.”
Bystanders who intervene during a road rage incident may not necessarily be protected under the law. In 2015, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, notified guidelines for the protection of good samaritans who help during road accidents. Later, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, inserted a new section 134A, named ‘Protection of good Samaritans.’
“But, in road rage cases, they could best be witnesses. Karnataka has a Good Samaritan law but that applies to accidents where bystanders help people. So, if there is an accident, a third party who calls an ambulance or the police is protected under the law. If a bystander tries to stop an SUV driver from being violent, and the SUV driver then acts violently towards the bystander, the bystander can seek criminal action because they were hurt,” explains Varini.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) allows for liability if someone intentionally causes harm to another person. However, there doesn’t seem to be any specific law that actively encourages people to intervene in fights.
“Road rage cases may often get disposed of quickly, because of the aggressor’s connections or influence in high places,” Varini says.
Provisions under the law:
Under MV Act:
- Section 112 prohibits overspeeding/gives limits on speed.
- Section 183 deals with punishment for driving at excessive speed and imposes fines.
- Section 184 deals with punishment for ‘driving dangerously’ and provides punishment up to six months of jail for the first offence and two years for subsequent offences. According to Sections 21 and 22, when Section 184 is violated, the driving licence can be suspended.
- Section 189 deals with punishment for racing on the road, which could be jail of up to six months.
BNS (new IPC):
- Section 326(b) states that anyone doing any act which renders or which he knows to be likely to render any public road impassable or less safe for travelling shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and fine.
- Section 106 deals with two things. First, whoever causes death by doing any rash and negligent act. Second, whoever causes the death of any person by rash and negligent driving of a vehicle and escapes without reporting it can be punished with jail for up to ten years.
- Section 281 states whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life shall be punished with jail up to six months.
In cases of road rage, the police will have to book the aggressor under reckless driving, for disrupting traffic or for not allowing the government servant to discharge his or her duties. So, they have to put them under indirect sections and violations of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Moreover, there is an ongoing debate on whether road rage should be classified as a civil offence, a criminal offence or a transport offence, which needs to be addressed.
Behavioural remedies
Dr Gautham mentions the following:
- Mutual respect is important to avoid flare-ups on the road.
- Repeat offenders need psychological evaluation and counselling, to check for an underlying problem — drug or alcohol dependency, excessive anxiety or a personality disorder.
- As for the behaviour of bystanders, it is the moral duty of every citizen to help other people in trouble. They could help diffuse the situation and ask people involved in an altercation not to block traffic and go ahead. If the problem escalates, bystanders can inform the police.
Practical solutions
- Note down the number plate of the aggressor and approach traffic police personnel for help.
- Install a dash cam in your car.
- Do not engage with the aggressor, give way to an aggressive driver.
- Stay alert.
- Do not get out of the car.
- Pull over to safe spot.
- Call 112 in case of an emergency.
- Call friends and family if help is needed.