ONLY days ago I read of yet another road rage incident that resulted in the murder of one of those engaged in a motoring dispute. This time, the road rage happened in Buckinghamshire.

I have been a motorist for 52 years and so have been very fortunate never to have been involved in a road rage situation of any consequence. I find it hard to understand how the behaviour of road users can deteriorate quickly to the extreme situation where one actually kills another even though minutes before the violence they had never clapped eyes on each other.

Months ago I learned of another road rage incident that escalated quickly into the murder of an elderly car driver by a much younger motorist. It happened in a village called Findon on the A24 just outside Worthing. I know the area well because my wife and I lived there for a few years in the 1980s.

My wife is also an experienced motorist and a very courteous one too but like me when we moved into West Sussex we quickly realised that road users in that area drive aggressively and tend to take no prisoners.

Margaret was involved in a car shunt that was not her fault and the third party left the scene at speed without leaving any contact details and before she could note a registration number. I witnessed a similar road collision with the third party making good his escape despite having damaged the car he rammed and having sustained damage to his own.

On another occasion, when about to enter a traffic island in Worthing, my stationary car was rammed from behind. The third party pleaded with me to settle the matter without involving insurers. I agreed to this. Eventually, a cheque arrived but the letter with it was so abusive in tone that you would have thought that I had reversed into him!

When we moved to central Wiltshire in 1986, we quickly noticed the difference in the way that road users behave.

We rejoiced in driving among road users that in the main behave with courtesy to each other. Some readers will raise their eyebrows at this comment and claim that they have encountered road users with bad manners and little regard to the Highway Code or the law. I accept that not all those with a set of wheels in Wiltshire never do anything to provoke rage in others but I do suggest that such people are the exception that proves the rule here. Compared to Sussex, we can be proud of the manners that road users in Gazette & Herald country display to others.

There is one brilliant example of this. I live just outside Devizes and it is a common sight to see the drays owned and operated by Wadsworth Brewery clip-clopping around the town doing their vitally important work of restocking some of the local pubs. Invariably, the slow speed of the drays means that a queue of traffic builds up behind them. I have often been in a car that is part of the procession behind the beer dray. It is a tribute to the tolerance and good manners of local drivers that I have never seen or heard any display of anger or irritation about the time added to journeys by queuing behind a horse drawn dray. I feel certain that no business operating in West Sussex would dare risk the ire and damage to business reputation that would ensue from putting horse drawn vehicles into regular use. So, long may the dray horses be part of our town.