A driving instructor is asking people to "think twice" after a raging man shouted "I'll ram you" at a learner on her lesson.
Danny Smith, 43, who runs Danny's Driving School, became a driving instructor three years ago after being a delivery driver for years. In that time, he has reported having "a fair few" incidents per week where other drivers beep or even scream abuse to his pupils on the roads.
One incident caught on dashcam saw a driver beep at Danny's pupil before pulling up next to the car. The man driving can be heard telling the pupil "see that car park, stay in there", after some arguing back and forth the raging driver shouts "I'll f*****g ram you you little k******d".
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Speaking about the incident, Danny said he saw in the men's eyes "they meant what they were saying" when they threatened to ram into his Nissan Juke.
He told The ECHO : "Things like that [road rage incidents] happen a fair few times a week. You find it is worse at different times of the day, or even days of the week.
"I remember I was looking directly into the lads eyes when he was shouting and they really meant what they were saying. Looking back I probably shouldn't of retaliated in that situation, but we are all human.
"If somebody is being aggressive we will eventually snap, but it should never get to this level. Definitely keeping the windows up in future."
Wanting to lift the lid on the abuse driving instructors and learners get while on the roads, Danny decided to start posting some of his dashcam videos on Instagram and TikTok. Since starting both accounts, his videos have been viewed millions of times by people around the world.
When asked about how road rage incidents affect learners, he told The ECHO he has seen pupils lose confidence and one even stop driving completely.
Danny said: "It can quite badly affect students to be honest. I have had incidents where people haven't want to come out for their next lesson, cancel lessons and get really shaken to the point where their hands are shaking and I have to take over to drive.
"One person did actually stop driving completely after something happened, which is just so wrong. I would say about 20% of pupils involved react badly to it, some people are good afterwards but others take a little bit of time."
Danny is now asking drivers to think twice and be mindful of learner drivers as their actions "could upset them".
He added: "Just please be mindful when you see an L-box don't get too close and keep your distance. These people are learning to drive, we all had to learn once, they could even be a family member.
"I understand people have places to be, but also people could try planning their journeys better. Set off in plenty of time, grab a coffee, put your music on and just chill out."
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