Are you a victim of road bullies?

SOME Bruneians have called on relevant authorities to tackle the problem of road bullies which are commonly found in Brunei.

"There is definitely road bullying on the Brunei roads and to be quite frank, it's becoming a really big problem," said a civil servant, 34, who requested not to be named.

He spoke of how his sister was a victim of road bullying when she was tailed by an angry driver who honked her as she was driving on the road.

"My sister was so scared that as soon as she saw a police station, she went straight in and the road bully gave her the most dirtiest look and left," he said.

Angered by the fact that his sister was in danger, he said that there should be better ways to punish road bullies as they are not only causing anxiety to the driver, but also a danger to other road users.

"People who become bullies on the road simply have issues. I don't know why they are like that, but I think it's mostly people who have anger management issues. The authorities should step up and say that this kind of behaviour is not condoned," he said.

He suggested authorities to alert road users to report the licence plates of the road bullies.

"If we give the bullies some kind of cautioning that would cause some kind of fear, maybe that could work," he said.

The authorities could provide counselling sessions by identifiying these road bullies, he added.

Alipah Ain said that harsher penalties should be given to road bullies.

The 32-year-old was also victimised by a road bully whose whole family confronted her while she was shopping with her mother.

"He tailgated me all the way to the shop I was smoking in and hurled obscenities in front of everyone in the shop," she said.

"That was also the first time a 70-year-old woman pointed to my face! I was absolutely stunned at this outrageous behaviour," she said.

"The authorities have done everything in terms of awareness, parents should educate their kids about curbing their anger on the road as people's safety is compromised," she said.

Hjh Khairunnisa, 25, said that authorities should get the public to re-learn some of the safety rules by giving clear rules and the consequences of their actions.

"It is the only way people learn, harsher penalties is not going to have any effect because people end up doing the crime all over again anyway, maybe it is time for another alternative," she said.

There were a total of 2,242 accidents in 2008, according to the latest statistics from the Road Safety Unit. People aged from 20 to 28 years held the highest number of accidents with 641 cases recorded.