More and more incidents and cases of so-called “road rage” are occurring with regularity along the main thoroughfares of cities and municipalities, particularly along busy roads and streets populated with all types of motor vehicles.
And sometimes, all it takes is for one motorist to feel and somehow sense that his right, if there’s any, and privilege to drive a motor vehicle along a public road or highway has been violated by another motorist.
Take, for example, the recent case of road rage that happened in Sitio Boso-Boso, Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City, where a man who was driving his SUV shot several motorcyclists after an altercation and which eventually led to the death of one of the motorcyclists. Everything was caught on a video that became viral.
Earlier video posts reveal that the man got out of his motor vehicle and confronted two of several motorcyclists which then led to fisticuffs. It then reached the point where the driver of the SUV, after engaging in a fistfight with two of the motorcyclists, suddenly pulled out a gun and began his shooting spree. The early videos posted online would also show the driver of the SUV carrying a woman whom he also shot and perhaps with the intention of bringing her to a hospital for treatment. Later on, other videos posted online will show police authorities chasing the SUV driven by the man who was later on arrested.
All in all, this is a classic example of road rage where a motorist was offended by another motorist and a confrontation ensued that ended up as a shooting incident.
This brings us to the issue of whether the road rage occurrence could have been avoided by either or both of the motorists. When feelings and emotions are involved, there is definitely no way to clearly avoid some form of confrontation, either verbal or physical, especially when the motorists are stressed or under some form of pressure which can be easily triggered by the occurrence of a sudden event, such as a near-mishap of their motor vehicles, or some other unnatural traffic incident they will be involved in.
And so we wonder why, up to now, there is still no law enacted by Congress that would somehow temper or even prevent these road rage incidents from occurring
And so we wonder why, up to now, there is still no law enacted by Congress that would somehow temper or even prevent these road rage incidents from occurring along the major roads and streets in the country. This type of traffic incident will only occur with greater frequency considering the ever increasing number of motor vehicles using the thoroughfares.
There is, in fact, a proposed law on the matter, and this is House Bill 5759 filed in the Lower House of Congress way back in 2019, but it has yet to be enacted into law. The said proposed bill seeks to penalize acts of road rage and was introduced by representatives Erwin Tulfo, Edvic Yap, Jocelyn Tulfo, Eric Yap and Ralph Tulfo.
The penalties for acts of road rage under the said proposed law are quite stiff, such that if a person engages in road rage but no death or injury occurred, that person shall still be penalized with imprisonment of six months to one year and a fine of not less than P50,000 but not more than P100,000, both at the discretion of the court.
However, if physical injuries will result due to the act of road rage, then the penalty is imprisonment of two to four years and a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P250,000 exclusive of all the damages incurred.
In the event that the road rage will result in the death of a party, then the penalty of imprisonment will be six to twelve years and a fine of not less than P250,000 but not more than P500,000, exclusive of all the damages incurred, to be imposed at the discretion of the court.
In case the one who will commit the act of road rage is a government official or employee, then he or she will also suffer the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from government service.
These are severe penalties that can be imposed on an individual or even group that will commit acts of road rage based on the provisions of the said proposed law. Unfortunately, almost six years after it was filed, there has not yet been any decisive action from the Lower House to approve this proposal to penalize acts of road rage.
Perhaps after the local elections, when we shall probably have new congresspersons in the Lower House, some lawmaker might finally work up the courage to re-file the proposal to finally establish a legal measure that would further deter motorists from engaging in acts of road rage, and thus contribute to discipline and road safety.
