ASSAULT, affray and criminal damage have all been caused after drivers saw red on Dorset's roads.

Figures released today show that police have been called to deal with 119 criminal incidents caused by road rage in the last three years.

The figures come as part of a Confused.com investigation in to road rage nationally, which reveals that a fifth of those involved in a road rage incident say it led to a physical altercation.

According to the stats, almost 40 per cent of motorists in the South West have experienced an incident they would class as road rage.

The most common situations that make motorists see red include people driving unnecessarily close to them, getting 'cut up', being tailgated by another driver and when drivers turn without indicating.

Road rage in Dorset has led to 29 assault with injury cases, 39 incidents of common assault, one example of causing an affray, 37 incidents of criminal damage to vehicles, and 11 cases of causing public fear, alarm or distress.

Road rage is not an offence in its own right and can fall under a multitude of different categories, Dorset Police says.

These figures show examples of where an officer has used the words 'road rage' within the incident summary.

Sergeant Dave Stroud of Dorset Police's traffic unit said: “Road rage is not an offence in its own right, but may be used to describe various motor incidents.

"We appreciate minor mistakes from other road users can be frustrating, but retaliating could make matters worse, so we would strongly encourage reporting motor incidents to the police."

“Our traffic officers and ‘No Excuse’ team use a combination of enforcement and education to tackle poor driving and reduce the number of casualties on Dorset’s roads.

“Officers target in particular the ‘fatal five’: drink and drug driving, excessive and inappropriate speed, not wearing a seatbelt, driver distractions such as using a hand-held mobile phone and careless driving.

"The team operates 24-hours a day seven days a week – we could be anywhere at any time.”