De-escalation and temper control techniques should be taught at school from an early age and be made a mandatory part of all driver training.
One of the most heart-breaking images of this year – even if you haven’t personally seen it – must be of a young boy trying to do CPR on his dying father who had just been shot in a road rage argument which quickly degenerated from a fist fight into a gun battle.
Even more so, because some of the videos of the incident on social media showed that the vehicle damage was hardly more than a mild “bumper bashing”.
The horrifying killing, in the middle of supposedly peaceful suburbia on a Sunday, has reminded us, viscerally, of two things.
First, guns are far too easy to come by in South Africa and gun ownership does not come with anything like enough training in temper control and de-escalation.
Second, it is proof positive that South Africa is a violent society where human life has little value.
There are many reasons why South Africa is violent: our past and our gulf between rich and poor are some of the main ones.
But, we must also acknowledge that the day-to-day way we have to live – with collapsing municipal services, incompetent governance all around us and pervasive crime – is bound to make even a reasonable, calm person boil with anger on occasion.
Then there is the fact that, for many people – and particularly men – cars are extensions of their egos and an injury to their vehicle is often seen as a grievous injury to the image of its driver.
How to we rid ourselves of this societal curse?
We suggest that de-escalation and temper control techniques be taught at school from an early age and that similar instruction be made a mandatory part of all driver training.
Road rage should also be prosecuted – and firmly – where possible.
Life is too precious to throw it away at the roadside.
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