Between the slowpokes, lane changes and tailgaters most of us have experienced a little bit of road rage.

Photo credit: Plate Alerts

It can be hard to stay calm when it feels like every driver around you doesn’t know the road rules. In fact, nearly 48% of Australians have been involved in a road rage incident! Maybe we need our own version of New Zealand’s Plates Alerts. A new website that allowed Kiwis to rate other people’s driving by typing in their number plate. Users can choose from a selection of reasons on the drop box feature to avoid abusive language.

Sam Parsons came up with the idea after he got in the passenger seat of his grandmother’s car. His family assumed she was a safe driver but he discovered that wasn’t true. “It wasn’t until I got in the car with her and realised actually her driving has deteriorated quite a lot and it would have been good to have some way of knowing or getting feedback from other people. We could have known her driving wasn’t so sharp before then,” he said.

“That’s the big idea. People can have these conversations with people who maybe need a bit of work on their driving rather than them having an accident before it’s too late.”

The main purpose of the app isn’t to give another driver a piece of your mind, but to promote safe driving. A family member or friend can add other people’s number plates to their watch list. So when someone leaves a review on their number plates, they get an alert and can talk to them about it. “They’re not just worried about police pulling them over but the social thing of their mates or family looking up their number plate and seeing a review written,” Parsons said.

Listen to Bec and Asa’s full chat below!