what does it take for a man to disregard his own life, the lives of others and risk damage to his own properties...?

His CAR!

I have never witnessed an accident as clearly as today. Things seemed to happened slow motion before my eyes before 2 cars crashed right before my very eyes.

It was a sunny afternoon at serangoon gardens. I stood by close to a rather crowded 2 way street waiting for my car to be checked. In front of me, i saw a black Subaru WRX waiting for the traffic to clear before he drives straight through an uncontrolled junction. On my left, there was a gold colour Nissan Cefiro emerging after a traffic light, driving at about 40 kph. From a distance, he seem to see the black subaru trying to find his opportunity to cross the junction. He also seemed determined not to give way. As he was still some 30 meters away, the black subaru inched his way forward trying to make an assessment to move and finally decided to drive through the junction. By this time, the Nissan cefiro was about 20 meters away. Instead of slowing down, he started to sound his horn continuously and not only did he not slow down he started to speed up - almost determined to teach the black subaru a lesson. It would have been obvious to him that if the black subaru did not stop, he would crash his car into the other car and risk killing the driver as it would be a direct hit on the driver side; not only that, his car and his own life would also be at risk. He carried on and so did the black subaru... and CRASH!!!

I jumped instinctively to my right, thinking that the momentum of the crash would bring both cars into my path but fortunately both vehicles stopped within a short distance. Both drivers were unhurt but their vehicles were badly damaged. The driver of the Nissan cefiro came out, a neatly dressed man who seem not to look like one with a violent character emerged. I looked at him and asked myself the question, "why did he decide to crash his car almost by choice and risk everything?"

Is it because when someone is driving a car, there is a certain sense of power that suddenly allow them to act in ways they would not otherwise... the sense that when I am in a car, I am no pushover... I will assert my right! Perhaps, people also feel that the worse that can come upon them is a dispute around insurance claim and their actions would not seen as a criminal? I think there is a medical and psychological basis to this action.

One thing remains clear... to use ones' vehicle in a manner with the intent to cause grievous hurt is punishable under the Penal Code Section 325, Chapter 224 with severe punishment.

The next time we are in a car, let's get a handle of ourselves. It is really not worth the trouble and the risk to lives - ours and others. In this instance, I am really troubled.