Road Rage

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Oliver Schick

As if to prove a point, you really get strange ways in which the term is applied. Here's one that to me doesn't look like 'road rage' in the slightest.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/millionaire-businessman-admits-driveway-road-rage-attack-on-pensioner-66-a3333086.html

The property developer and owner of clockmaker Dent - which built Big Ben’s original chimes - was walking near his home when he stepped out in front of Mr Lyons’ car as he turned into his gated estate at 2pm on May 29.

Jackie Hughes, prosecuting, said Mr Lyons had to brake suddenly to avoid the defendant, who had stepped out into the road. She said: “They both looked at each other for a couple of seconds.

Why is this 'road rage' rather than someone on a hair trigger flying off the handle in a completely random situation?

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Scrabble in reply to @Oliver Schick

Does seem very odd. It is a terribly written article. I had to go back and forth trying to work out who was who in the situation only to finally work out that the one accused of "road rage" was the pedestrian at the time...It's just assault surely.

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Oliver Schick in reply to @Scrabble

The way I read it (with the same difficulty you mention) is that the charge is actually for 'assault causing actual bodily harm', and it seems that the journo has turned it into 'road rage', perhaps to make the headline snappier, or perhaps they were keen to say that pedestrians can launch 'road rage' attacks, too. Perhaps it was something said in court, e.g. in pleading guilty the defendant may have said 'it was road rage, really' (which obviously has no bearing on the charge).

Oh well.

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