Police receives less reports of road rage incidents

Incidents of road rage are on the decline in Singapore, according to the latest police statistics obtained, reported The Straits Times.

The number of reported road rage cases in the first nine months of this year fell to 53, from 71 over the same period last year. Such cases, which are classified as 'voluntarily causing hurt', totalled 90 for the whole of last year, compared with 97 in 2012 and 84 in 2011.

Criminal lawyer Rajan Supramaniam believed the dip in cases was a result of stiff sentences passed and the growing number of in-car cameras, which have served as an effective deterrent.

Lawyers whom The Straits Times spoke to said they are handling more road rage cases involving foreigners, though the police do not have a breakdown of cases involving foreigners. Earlier this month, three foreigners went to court after they were accused of physically abusing cabbies here. In another case involving a foreigner, a Caucasian man drew flak from netizens after he was caught on camera pointing the middle finger at a motorist earlier this year.

Singaporean motorists behaving badly have also been shamed on social media. Student Quek Zhen Hao, 25, made the news in February this year after videos of him swerving his car recklessly into the path of another driver without signalling went viral. He had also approached the woman driver of the other car in a threatening manner.