Ali al-Khalidi was the victim of road rage attack in Brunswick in June this year. Credit:Justin McManus Forklift driver Ali al-Khalidi was in his car, driving home from work on busy Sydney Road in Brunswick in June, when two men in a truck set upon him at lunchtime in the full view of dozens of bystanders. Mr Khalidi said the men in the truck started beeping him, apparently annoyed he was following the 40km/h speed limit, before the situation escalated at a red light. "The guy jumped out of the truck and he started kicking my car. I thought if I put the window up they might kick my car and leave," he said. But the attackers didn't leave. They kicked in Mr Khalidi's side windows and started punching him in the head, calling the Iraqi-born 28-year-old a "f---ing Indian".

Assistant Police Commissioner Doug Fryer says road rage is not a minor traffic matter. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui "I didn't feel anything, just punches to my face. They were just punching me, they were swearing." "It was 12.30pm. It's a busy time in Sydney Road at that intersection. They just drove off." Mr Khalidi says the unprovoked road rage attack has not only affected him mentally, but he still feels pain above his eyes where the men punched him. He had to take time off work and cover the cost of getting his car repaired.

"Whenever I think about it, I feel really depressed. It's affected me. I don't drive on Sydney Road much now anymore." Mr Khalidi's story is just one of many. There were 14 assaults reported in Melbourne's 3000 postcode between April 2016 and March 2017. Reservoir was second with 11 assaults, followed by nine in Dandenong and eight in Brunswick.

The figures come after The Age revealed earlier this month that 18 per cent of drivers have admitted to deliberately chasing another motorist to intimidate them. Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer said the growth in the number of crimes reported on local roads was "really concerning". "Some of these are very serious assaults and Victoria Police take them very seriously and investigate them at the level they should be." "We know some road rage incidents start as a minor traffic altercation, others perhaps as a minor crash or some disrespect on the roads, and the behaviour escalates."

"These are traffic incidents that have escalated because people can't control their temper and it then turns into criminal offending." Data from the past five years shows road rage hotspots are in constant flux. Cranbourne had 12 reported assaults in 2015-2016 – the third highest hotspot – but that number halved to six a year later. Reservoir also went from no reported assaults to 11 between 2013 and 2017.

Suburbs where drivers were most likely to have their vehicle damaged during a confrontation also differed from where an assault was most likely to occur. Property damage cases were the highest in Wantirna, Cranbourne, Melbourne, Broadmeadows, Melton and Narre Warren. Unlike assault offences, the rate of property damage offences have mostly held steady, increasing from 183 to 203 in the past five years. Assistant Commissioner Fryer said aggressive driving was an "absolute focus" for Victoria Police and encouraged people to report these incidents to police and not provoke aggressive drivers. "We absolutely want these matters reported.

"If someone has an incident where their window is punched out or worse, that's a criminal offence and we will investigate."