Road rage incidents on the rise over the years - one attack every four days

Reported cases of road rage incidents that escalate to assault have increased to 97 last year, up from 84 in 2011 and 63 in 2010 - with some reported cases brought up to court in recent months.

Apparently according to Singapore Road Safety Council Vice-Chairman, Gopinath Menon, the number of incidents may be higher as many do not go reported. "People avoid reporting unless it gets out of hand because of the hassle. They get upset, but they usually just let it go," he told The Straits Times.

MP Gan Thiam Poh, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, revealed the figures to be alarming, especially when there might be more cases.

According to Criminal lawyer, Josephus Tan, the law classifies a traffic incident as road rage only when physical assault to a certain degree is recorded. He added while you can report any road rage incident, the victim must be willing to spend time and effort. Daniel Atticus Xu, another law practicing professional, revealed unless a police officer saw the road rage incident - it is unlikely he can arrest an alleged assaulter.

When assault is recorded under a road rage incident, but no dangerous weapons or no serious injuries have occurred - it is classified under voluntarily causing hurt which results in a non-seizable offence. This means after making a police report, victims need to file a magistrate's complaint and let the court decide whether an offence has been committed and should get the police to investigate.

A person convicted of voluntarily causing hurt can be sentenced to jail for up to two years or fined up to $5,000, or both.

In the wake of rising road rage incidents, the local police advices drivers facing road bullies to stay calm, do not respond in an aggressive or reckless manner and avoid face-to-face confrontations. The police also advices all motorists to maintain a safe driving distance and note down the vehicle's licence plate number to report the incident.