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‘Road Rage’ is a prevalent issue on New South Wales roads.
‘Road rage is aggressive or angry behaviour exhibited by people driving a vehicle.
These behaviours include rude and verbal insults, yelling, physical threats or dangerous driving methods targeted at other drivers, pedestrians or cyclists in an effort to intimidate or release frustration.
Road rage can lead to altercations, damage to property, assaults, and collisions that result in serious physical injuries or even death.
Behaviour has included (but are not limited to) cutting motorists off, inappropriate honking, flashing headlights, using obscene gestures, flipping off another driver, swerving, tailgating, brake checking, and physical confrontation.’
Examples of ‘Road Rage’ criminal charges
Stalk/Intimidate
Imagine someone has suddenly cut you off or breaks heavily and causing you to almost run up the back of them.
You are enraged and you overtake the individual and shout out obscenities and scream ‘I’m going to f**king get you!’
Your moment of rage where you have lost control has potentially enlivened a charge of Stalk/Intimidate pursuant to s13 of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 with a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment or 50 penalty units.
Menacing Driving
Imagine you are in an incident, and someone infuriates you and without thinking about the consequences of your actions you get in front of them and intentionally slam on your brakes really hard so that they almost run up your back end of your motor vehicle.
You have now technically committed an offence of ‘Menacing Driving’ contrary to s118 of the Road Transport Act 2014 which has a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units and 12 months imprisonment with an automatic license disqualification of 3 years with a minimum disqualification of 12 months for a first offence.
For such an offence the prosecution has to prove not only that you committed the conduct alleged and that it was dangerous, but also that it was intentionally committed by you.
Assault
A common example we see in relation to road rage incidents is assault.
Imagine somebody intentionally or unintentionally upsets you on the road and at the next set of red lights you get out of their motor vehicle and walk over to the other driver and punch him to the head.
You have now assaulted someone and at minimum can expect to be charged with ‘common assault’ contrary to s61 of the Crimes Act 1900 which has a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment.
Example of Serious ‘Road Rage’
I recently had a case where the accused was charged with assaulting the driver of any vehicle who had been cut off. The accused had driven in front of the vehicle and cut him off and then walked to the drivers side door and punched the victim a total of 13 times to head resulting in bruising and swelling and requiring an ambulance which amounted to actual bodily harm contrary to s59 of the Crimes Act 1900.
The accused was also charged with menacing driving contrary to s118 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment and automatic disqualification of 3 years with minimum disqualification of 12 months.
I was able to negotiate the withdrawal of the menacing driving charge upon a plea of guilty being entered to the assault occasioning actual bodily harm which was all recorded on the dash cam of another motor vehicle.
The offender was already on good behaviour bonds for stalk/intimidate offences which were called up at the sentence hearing.
The offender had completed a drug program through the court called MERIT.
The offender had undertaken anger management courses.
The offender had undertaken psychological intervention and treatment.
The offender had through his lawyers requested a ‘Sentence Assessment Report’ (SAR) in which he was suitable to engage in Community Service.
Despite his record and the seriousness of the unprovoked assault on the victim and the injuries sustained by the victim, the offender was not sent to full-time imprisonment and received an ‘Intensive Correctives Order’ with community service work.
This is a great example of how getting proper legal advice can help you should you be charged with a crime related to a Road Rage incident in Sydney.
Please contact Oxford Lawyers for any enquiries or advice from our Traffic Lawyers in Sydney if you’re charged with an offence related to an assault or road rage.
