Jo Raphael: Our lives are in the hands of others on the roads

OPINION

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

It's a quote from JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I believe it means anything can happen, to anyone, at any time when you leave your house every day.

And it is a dangerous business, leaving your house. One Bay of Plenty whānau knows just how close they came to danger after a terrifying road rage incident this week that was captured on video.

The family were travelling between Rotorua and Te Puke when a man in a white Mazda ute began ramming the back of their vehicle.

The ute repeatedly hit them before overtaking - narrowly avoiding being hit by an oncoming truck in the process.

The ute hit their car about seven times in dangerous conditions - the road was wet and rainy.

I'm willing to bet this family did not wake up that morning, leave their house and expect to be the victims of a horrific road rage attack.

There's no excuse for bad driver behaviour, writes Jo Raphael. Photo / Getty Images

I can't imagine how I would have reacted had I been in the same situation.

In February this year, a mum and her two children were terrorised while driving down Fenton St in Rotorua, while their windscreen was punched and broken - this too, was caught on video.

The children can be heard in the video saying "go Mum, go" and "Mummy, I want to go home ... just drive, Mummy."

How traumatising for those kids, let alone their mum.

Last month Auckland mayoral candidate Efeso Collins claims he and his family were nearly run off the road by "irresponsible cowards" hurling abuse at them.

The couple and their two daughters, aged 9 and 2, were in Collins' campaign vehicle when he said two cars dangerously tried to cut them off at the merging lane near KFC in Te Atatu.

Collins said his wife Fia, who was driving, was cut off by the two cars at the same time doing fingers at her.

I suspect there's a certain degree of machismo going on behind the steering wheels on our roads in this country.

Certain drivers don't like to be overtaken, they don't like being followed too closely, or others speeding up in passing lanes while trying to pass. Some brake repeatedly when there's no reason to, and some aggressively speed through roundabouts.

I get it.

I often drive on New Zealand's state highways - at times it is terrifying. And I've been the victim of what I believe to be targeted dangerous driving and each time it's left me shaken and on the brink of panic.

All because of some perceived slight or driving infraction I've made against another motorist.

No matter what happens to provoke this kind of behaviour - either real or perceived - it's no excuse to put lives in danger.

So what's the solution here? The only real tools police have to combat this behaviour are fines and warnings.

Police need to increase their presence on New Zealand roads. People need to see the direct consequences of their actions. If only to put them in check long enough to rethink how they act in the heat of the moment

The amount of carnage on our roads already should be a deterrent to some people's behaviour. There have been almost 200 deaths on the country's roads so far this year.

It surely is a dangerous business, going out your door.