Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "I saw in the rear vision, he put his finger across his throat as if to say 'you're dead'. He was laughing, and I suppose that pushed me to follow him.'' The truck then side-swiped their car which pushed it towards a concrete barrier, damaging the tyres, side mirror and doors. "I stayed in the 80km/h zone and then when he pulled to the side of me in the middle lane he just rammed me," Ms Mahady recalled. The truck allegedly involved in the incident. Credit:Victoria Police

"I was able to maintain my course in my lane, I'm a fairly confident driver, but I knew he had damaged the car. Then he proceeded to do it again and then a third time and he got in front of me," she said. Ms Mahady decided to follow the truck driver to get his number plate. Her passenger friend was petrified. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video ''The girl next to me was very upset," Ms Mahady recalled. "She was hysterical and I thought I couldn't remember his number plate and followed him until he stopped. He was weaving in and out of traffic, driving to get away from me, and then he maintained speed and ended up on the side of the road.'' When Ms Mahady got out of her car to get his number plate, the man pulled over nearby and ran towards them.

"He ran at with me with the hammer, pushed me over and my girlfriend jumped and ran off and he pushed her down into a ditch and threatened her with a hammer." Ms Mahady told the truck driver she had his number plate details. The driver then took her friend's phone to try and make sure they didn't call police. Later, he gave the phone back when she demanded it. Once they were back in the car, Ms Mahady reversed and the man attempted to smash one of the side windows. As they drove away he smashed one of the back windows and let go of the hammer which fell into the back seat.

While Ms Mahady said she had been coping well since the attack on Saturday, but said her friend had been distressed. "My friend has to go to the doctor and is seeking further counselling offered by police in this situation,'' the schoolteacher said. "I don't want him to do it to anyone else, that's for sure... I was able to maintain control of the car, but people could have been hurt. ''That's not acceptable. I'm not a vengeful person, but he should be made accountable." Loading "He has got serious anger problem and if you can do that to two women, I'd hate to see what he's doing to other people in his life."

Ms Mahady's passenger, Julie Dougherty, said she thought she was going to die when the truck began to sideswipe the car. "I got really nervous and cowed down and he just kept following us ... while he was driving he was getting his hand [across his throat] as if he was going to kill us," she told reporters in Sunbury. Leigh was saying ring triple-0, and we were describing what the truck looked like ... I kept repeating that we were really scared and that he was trying to do it to other people. "I thought I was going to die, especially the second time he swung over and I started to cower down ... Leigh was trying to comfort me but all I could see were things flashing in front of my head and then when he hit the third time, I thought, we're gone now, because there was nowhere else for us to go on that side." She said when they pulled over, the driver got out what looked like a steel hammer or mallet, about 30cm in length, and starting hitting the brand new Kia sedan.

"He came up close and pushed me down a ditch, and I'm quite sore all down there and the side of my face. He's holding onto my phone and he didn't realise we had already rang triple zero. And he was saying, just get in the car and go. "When he had the mallet close to my head ... I thought I was going to die," she said. Ms Dougherty said she had never experienced road rage that violent in her life. "No-one has the right to treat anyone like this. Nobody. We did not do anything wrong, we couldn't have done anything any different. Even when Leigh got out of the car she stood their calmly and said 'why are you treating two women like this?' "We have done nothing. He's just carrying on like an absolute idiot. He was an angry, determined person that was going to get his own way," she said.

"I want him caught. He could have killed us. Twice I could have died. I don't want him to have the ability to do it to anyone else." Ms Mahady drove to Sunbury police station after the attack to report the matter. Police are now appealing for witnesses. The man is described as being of Middle Eastern appearance. He spoke with a slight accent and was aged in his late 20s with curly short black hair. He was approximately 160cm tall and was wearing a top with "Eden" written on it. Investigators have released an image of the truck allegedly involved in the incident.

Victoria Police Senior Sergeant Brad Towers told 3AW Radio they had the truck's registration and were making inquiries on Monday. "If you are listening, it would be in your best interest to hand yourself in to police," he said. The offender could face both criminal and traffic offences. It comes as a former triathlete told 3AW radio of another violent incident on Melbourne roads at the weekend. Paul, 52, told radio host Neil Mitchell he was cycling on the Nepean Highway on Sunday morning near Seaford when he was cut off by another bike rider.

The pair began to argue on the side of the road before the unknown cyclist gave Paul "one hell of a whack". Paul fell to the ground and was then hit another five to six times. The man rode away after a passerby started to shout at him. The victim is now undergoing CT scans and has bruises across his face. A study last year by the Monash University Accident Research Centre found 18 per cent of drivers in the survey admitted to deliberately chasing another driver to intimidate them. In Victoria, 86 per cent of drivers said they expressed anger on the road. There is no specific road-rage offence, and police assess each road rage case on merit.

Anyone with information or dash camera footage should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

