EAST LANCASHIRE motorists would do well to heed the warning issued after Blackburn magistrates jailed a man for three months in a road rage case.

The private hire driver was found guilty of common assault and causing criminal damage after a confrontation with a bus driver.

Road rage has become one of the curses of the 1990s.

Tolerance seems to go out of the window when people take to our congested highways.

Sadly, there have even been cases where drivers' rage at the antics of other motorists have led to fatalities.

The courts are right to come down hard on people found guility of assault resulting from road rage.

We all know that Britain's road system is inadequate for today's volume of traffic. And it is understandable that drivers, who may have experienced half a dozen choking traffic jams within in a few miles, become edgy.

But resorting to physical violence solves nothing.

And, as yesterday's case proved, there are signs that the courts are not prepared to tolerate such anti-social behaviour.

There is no doubt that driving brings out the worst in many of us.

There is an abundance of short fuses out there on our roads.

But is doling out summary justice to the idiot who has just cut in front of you worth a jail sentence? We think not.

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