From the Sunday Times of January 24, 2010, p.7:
By Corienne Louw
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| SMASHING IDEA: A South African website urges drivers to SMS their complaints instead of succumbing to road rage Picture: GALLO/GETTY IMAGE |
Instead of bursting an artery, South African motorists are using a new SMS service to vent their road rage.
But the website, rager.co.za, started by Johannesburg brothers Michael and Steven Edwards, has been met with mixed reaction by road traffic officials and experts, one of whom has dismissed it as a "vigilante" initiative.
The brothers launched Rager late last year following their own road rage experiences. Research has shown that half of all South African road users experienced aggressive and threatening driving behaviour.
Rager advises motorists to report drivers who appear to be "some self-absorbed punter driving like a Cape Point baboon on tik".
For R2, the offender's licence-plate number and a summary of the offence should be SMSed to the site's number, and the complaint will be posted online.
And those reporting bad driving will be informed, via SMS, how often the subject of their anger has enraged others.
Said Michael: "We built the service to allow ... victims to feel they were able to do something about (road rage), and even just telling the world and perhaps the bad driver themself via SMS, was a great way to relieve the tension."
Rager spokesman Carmen du Preez conceded that there was scepticism about whether the service would reduce road rage. She said that publishing offenders' licence-plate numbers was legal because these were already "in the public domain".
Some of the rants posted to Rager included: "Maniac ... weaving through the traffic at speed with a cellphone stuck to his ear and lit cigarette in the other hand, which he's flicking out the window."
But Rager cautioned frustrated motorists against becoming offenders themselves: "Don't be part of the problem - don't SMS while driving."
Wendy Watson, a road safety consultant, said she believed the service was "a terrible idea" and a "vigilante" initiative. "This is a private initiative and what concerns me is the fact that motorists might SMS while driving, causing road offences themselves."
In response, Michael said their slogan was "stop, breathe, SMS".
The head of KwaZulu-Natal's Road Traffic Inspectorate, John Schnell, said he had "serious reservations about what this proposes to do".
"Offenders will not be rehabilitated. It is putting power in the thumbs of people but has no effect. It is a gimmick ..."
But Wayne Minnaar of the Johannesburg Metro Police was more hopeful about the service reducing road rage.
Source: Times Live
