New figures show road rage is on the rise, with 28% of Kiwi drivers involved in a heated incident behind the wheel.
From tailgating and ramming drivers to simply swearing and beeping, new research commissioned by AA Insurance shows road rage and driver distractions are increasing.
According to the data, 46% of Kiwis say road rage has become worse since the start of the pandemic. Police agree.
“Unfortunately our people that are out there on the roads trying to keep people safe are seeing this more and more,” says Assistant Police Commissioner of Road Policing Bruce O'Brien.
The research found 18- to 29-year-olds were the most at-risk age group.
"It can be your extreme end, where probably someone’s getting out of their car and getting quite aggressive, to just some of those basic horn beeping sort of situations," says Beau Paparoa, head of motor claims at AA Insurance.
Auckland and Canterbury had the highest number of road rage incidents – 31% of people in each city had experienced road rage in the last year, while it was slightly lower in Wellington – just 22%.
Clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire is urging people to think before they start road raging.
“They’re tunnel vision and they are driven by intense emotion. I suppose what we want to do for ourselves and for other people is to try and calm that situation down, taking a big breath and pausing before you react.”
Police say the risks of road rage are worse at this time of year.
“Coming into Christmas, there’s those other pressures that start coming in, financial pressures, that can play out on the roads,” O'Brien says.
Forty-one per cent of Kiwis say other drivers are the biggest distraction, up from 37% in 2018.
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