India's road rage: When cars become weapons

India's road rage: When cars become weapons September 21, 2026A road altercation in Gurugram, a suburb of New Delhi, went viral last week after a 27-year-old female biker was allegedly chased and hit by a car. The two sides gave differing accounts of the initial dispute, with the car driver telling Indian media that the group of bikers overtook his car and slowed down in front of it. In turn, the motorcycle rider, Shivani Chauhan, said the car was following her and the argument started when she asked the people inside to keep a safe distance. Chauhan's motorcycle-mounted camera shows the car hitting her from the side and them speeding away as she falls and rolls on the road. "I could have suffered serious fractures or internal injuries and even died. Due to such people, the roads of Gurugram and Delhi feel unsafe," Chauhan was quoted as saying by Indian news outlets. According to reports, the driver claims that he lost control over his vehicle and left the scene because he feared reprisals from the biker group. Police have since arrested the driver on charges including attempted murder and stalking. Road rage escalates to violence, shootouts The case was only the latest example of how quickly a dispute on India's increasingly crowded roads can turn violent. In March in Hassan, in the southern Karnataka state, young men reportedly shouted at the driver of a Toyota Fortuner SUV to slow down. Police said the driver turned the vehicle around and rammed the group, killing one man and seriously injuring three others. In the northern city of Dehradun that month, an argument over giving way between two SUVs, a Toyota Fortuner and a Mahindra Scorpio, escalated into a chase and gunfire. The altercation cost the life of one man, a retired Army brigadier Mukesh Joshi, who was not involved in the initial dispute. "The occupants of the Scorpio waited outside the club till early morning and then chased the Fortuner. During the firing, the brigadier, who was out on morning walk, was hit by a bullet in the chest,” said senior superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal. Concerns over road safety prompted the administration of Daman, a small coastal town north of Mumbai, to take an unusual step. On September 9, officials gathered owners of Mahindra Thar and Toyota Fortuner SUVs and made them take a public road safety pledge. District Collector Saurabh Mishra, the district's top administrator, warned that these kinds of larger vehicles should not be used to intimidate others or display power. More cars, less space on Indian roads India's roads are notoriously dangerous, with government figures showing 485 people were killed in crashes on an average day in 2024. The data also indicates that the number of vehicles is currently growing much faster than the expansion of the road network. Notably, SUVs accounted for about 2.63 million vehicles, or 56% of India's car sales, in the 12 months leading up to March 2026, according to industry data. While more SUVs on the road does not neccesarily mean more aggressive driving, the vehicles' size, height and presence can change the dynamics of a confrontation. "For some drivers it is an expression of strength and domination," former police officer Yashovardhan Azad told DW. "One drives with impunity to make an impression on smaller vehicles," said Azad. He called for tougher policing using new technology, rigorous punishment and a nationwide programme to promote safer driving. "Hitting a smaller vehicle intentionally is not rash driving. It is a measure of criminal intent," he said. 'SUV drivers have a beast in their hands' Road safety expert Prince Singhal, founder of the Community Against Drunken Driving, sees both vehicles and drivers as parts of the problem. "The issue of terror behind SUVs is not just a traffic challenge but also a behavioral issue," Singhal told DW. "The SUV drivers have a beast in their hands and it's their mindset which decides the outcome." Singhal notes that SUVs are a practical choice for bad roads and long journeys, but also points to issues in their design. "High bonnets and elevated bumper heights increased the risk of fatal head and chest injuries for pedestrians, children, and cyclists and all other road users compared to traditional lower cars," added Singhal. With an SUV at hand, drivers often experience "a psychological sense of invincibility," which can lead to hostile behavior, road bullying and rule violations, he said. Are drivers taking traffic too personally? Psychiatrist Ravi Prakash, who studies traffic behavior at Veditha Mind Care Clinic in Bengaluru, agrees that the driver "feels both powerful and protected inside a large, sturdy vehicle." He also warned that there are other mechanisms at play. "There is a psychological phenomenon called 'personalization,' where people interpret an ordinary act by a stranger as something personally directed at them," he told DW. Someone cutting across a lane may be in a hurry. But the other driver may see it as an attempt to assert superiority. A perceived insult can then threaten a person's identity and trigger a spike of anger. "Usually, hitting the other person is not the goal initially," Prakash said. The driver first tries to assert superiority through speeding, honking, gestures or shouting. When that fails, a desire to punish can emerge, what Prakash calls an "illusion of retributive justice." 'Anything that you tolerate becomes a culture' Sociologist Dipankar Gupta says road rage happens "because traffic rules are not strictly enforced," with the problem in no way limited to SUV drivers. "Even motorcyclists get into road rage," he told DW. "It's like a child who is not disciplined and throws a tantrum," Gupta said of the wider breakdown in road discipline. When rules are routinely ignored and people do not want to face the consequences, he added, it becomes similar to "a punch up" in school. With cameras everywhere, however, such behavior has become harder to ignore. "The anger is not new. What has changed is that everyone has a camera now, whether it is a dashcam, a helmet camera or a mobile phone," Deepanshu Gupta, cofounder of CrashFree India, a road safety nonprofit, told DW. He warns that recording an incident is not the same as preventing it. "Every driver knows that the odds of facing any real consequence are very low," he said. "Anything that you tolerate becomes a culture. Aggressive driving is normalized here, but culture responds to enforcement," Deepanshu Gupta said. He also noted that road rage is not a specifically defined offense in India, leaving police to choose between rash driving and far more serious charges such as attempted murder. "There is very little in between," he said. In such conditions, responsibility rests on the drivers, particularly when a large vehicle is in a confrontation with a more vulnerable road user. "The bigger the vehicle you bring onto the road, the greater your duty of care has to be," he said. Edited by: Darko Janjevic