What would you do? The reports about the motorist who took the keys off another driver on the Lindis Pass last Sunday evening raise issues which are not easy to answer.
The first difficulty is establishing the facts, which have become contested.
It might well be more than simply one motorist seeing another behaving so badly that he genuinely feared for the safety of other road users and felt a moral imperative to act.
In the aftermath of the incident, there has developed something of a ''he said, he said'' response, with claims the concerned motorist was himself speeding and exhibiting road rage.
Meanwhile, the Australian visitor maintains he was, in fact, overtaking in a legal passing area and an oncoming car was a safe distance away.
He was ''100% sure'' it did not have to veer off the road to avoid a head-on smash.
The motorist who took the keys claims the Australian visitor overtook another vehicle on a blind bend, forcing an oncoming motorist to drive off the road and narrowly missing both that car and his own.
The motorist then U-turned and caught the tourist's vehicle, flashed his lights, beeped his horn and gestured to the driver to stop.
When that didn't happen, the man overtook the tourist, indicating he should pull over.
Once both vehicles had stopped, the concerned motorist reached in and took keys from the ignition, explaining once he was back in cellphone range he would call the police.
As it happens, another person had said the family was left in the rain with one of the rental car's electric windows down, and three young children and a diabetic man among the group of seven.
The family didn't know about the lack of cellphone coverage or where the nearest town was. They didn't have food or water.
On the assumption the concerned motorist's version is correct, he felt he had no choice but to act.
As he later said: ''Would you rather have distressed kids sitting in the back of the car or dead kids splattered across the windscreen?
That's how close it was.''
Interestingly, he didn't hesitate to contact the police, and the tourist driver, who was subject to an early complaint of slow driving on the Crown Range road, has been charged with careless use of a motor vehicle.
It is likely most motorists would not have taken the decisive action of chasing down the tourist and taking the keys.
It is not in the nature of most New Zealanders to be that confrontational.
There could also well be a justified concern about the risks involved, as police have noted. Imagine if the tourist had become stroppy.
At the same time, there is legitimate unease about vigilante-like reactions, about citizens taking the law into their own hands.
Imagine, too, if there was a medical emergency with the stranded occupants of the tourist vehicle.
The question also needs to be asked if less drastic measures were possible.
The concerned motorist could not call *555 because of no mobile phone coverage.
But could he have called that number as soon as coverage returned?
Or could he have conducted a calm cautionary discussion with the visitor with the family still able to proceed?
On the other hand, could he in all conscience let the situation continue?
What if he had done nothing and people had been killed in a smash further down the road?
An issue in such cases when citizens take matters into their own hands is where any lines might be drawn.
How dangerous does the driving have to be?
Because we all see situations differently and according to our perspective and even moods, how much is in the eye of the beholder?
As the police have said, they appreciate the concerned motorist was acting in the best interests of public safety and he contacted police as soon as he was able to.
But any incident must be extreme before anyone should consider taking the law into their own hands.
