Sandro Marcos files bill seeking to criminalize road rage

House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos on Monday filed a measure seeking to criminalize road rage and tighten penalties for aggressive and retaliatory driving.

House Bill 8190 or the proposed “Anti Road Rage Act” seeks to draw a firm legal line between ordinary traffic violations and deliberate acts that put lives at risk.

In a statement, Marcos said the measure also aims to send a clear message that “public roads are not arenas for intimidation, threats and violence.”

He noted that when one’s anger spills onto the road, the consequences are rarely confined to the two people involved. This is because commuters, passengers, pedestrians, and other motorists also experience its consequences.

“We cannot allow road rages to continue on our roads, because one reckless decision can turn into a lifelong tragedy for an innocent family,” said Marcos.

HB 8190 seeks to define road rage as any intentional and aggressive act committed by a driver or occupant arising from a traffic-related incident, carried out to intimidate, threaten, harass, retaliate against, or cause harm to another road user, and creating a clear and present danger to life, limb or property.

It lists driving in a manner that endangers another road user, using a vehicle as a means of intimidation or pursuit, and threatening or assaulting another person in connection with a traffic encounter as acts of road rage.

The lawmaker said this definition gives enforcers and prosecutors a clearer tool to address patterns that often escalate, including cases involving pursuit, obstruction, and threats of violence that begin with a traffic dispute and end in injury or death.

The bill proposes imprisonment of six months and one day to one year or a fine of P20,000 to P100,000 or both as penalties for incidents of road rage that did not end up in damage, injury, or death.

If an incident of road rage results in property damage or physical injury, the penalty increases to imprisonment of two years and one day to four years or a fine of P100,000 to P200,000, or both.

If the offense results in two or more less serious physical injuries or a serious physical injury or death, the offender shall be prosecuted for intentional felonies under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

The appropriate penalties shall be imposed in their maximum period plus an additional fine ranging from P200,000 to P500,000.

These penalties are without prejudice to civil liability for damages.

HB 8190 also seeks to require offenders to undergo anger management trainings as ordered by a court, in coordination with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Marcos said the measure’s goal is accountability that is both punitive and corrective, lamenting that viral road rage videos often normalize intimidation and escalate copycat behavior.

The bill also sets aggravating circumstances that require maximum penalties, including cases where the offender carries, brandishes, or uses a deadly weapon, a firearm whether licensed or not, or an object made to appear as a firearm or deadly weapon, and cases involving victims who are minors, pregnant women, senior citizens, or persons with disability.

The same applies when the offender is a uniformed personnel charged with maintaining law and order.

There are also immediate consequences on one’s driving privileges.

Pending investigation, the driver’s license of an accused shall be immediately suspended, and upon final determination of liability, the offender shall be perpetually disqualified from obtaining or holding a driver’s license.

If the offender is found to be in possession of a firearm and holds a license to carry it, the license shall be automatically revoked, with perpetual disqualification from securing any license to carry a firearm.

The measure was filed amid allegations of a road rage incident along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) that supposedly involved a public official’s convoy and a son of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Malacañang denied the incident but the Land Transportation Office (LTO) said it is investigating the alleged report. — JMA, GMA Integrated News