I was recently sent an article by Bryony from Ocean Finance, it made for good reading so I thought I’d share it with you in this blog. Let us know what you think…
Every week, 30 million car drivers are left raging on the roads, according to research conducted on behalf of Ocean Finance.
With as many as 10 million Brits getting agitated behind the wheel every day, it would seem the streets of the UK are a major cause of anger.
Those living in Wales were most likely to keep their cool when faced with driving annoyances. Comparatively, the North East comes out as the hotspot for hotheads, with 92% admitting to losing their rag on the road at least once a week.
Furthermore, men (88%) were marginally more likely to see red than women (84%).
Tailgating, people not indicating and people who use their mobile phone behind the wheel came out as the top pet peeves for most drivers. Other common irritations include, being cut up and speeding.
Bad habits on the road vs Number of people who say they get annoyed by others doing this:
Not indicating – 6.6m
Tailgaters – 6.6m
Using a mobile phone – 6.5m
Being cut-up – 2.6m
Speeding – 2.6m
Not saying ‘thank you’ – 2.4m
Driving below the speed limit – 2m
Blocking junctions – 2m
Jumping traffic lights – 1.2m
Drifting out of lanes – 0.9m
When faced with people who annoy them on the road, 8 million Brits swear to release their frustration and a further 4.5 million use hand gestures to make their anger known.
As many as half a million Brits say that they would go to the length of following the car until it stops so they can tell the driver off – 18 to 24-year-olds were twice as likely to do this than any other age group.
Worryingly, one in three drivers say they have been in an incident as a result of someone’s careless, bad driving habits. While most (8 million) got away with just a minor incident, 2.5 million were caught up in a more serious accident.
Ian Williams, Ocean’s spokesperson, said: “The vast majority of drivers are careful, polite and considerate. However, when we do encounter one that isn’t it seems that many of us struggle to keep our cool. We’d urge drivers who encounter some dodgy driving to stay calm – getting stressed isn’t going to help.”
Editors’ notes
* Red Dot questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults aged 18 and over between 14th March 2016 – 17th March 2016, of whom 636 were Scottish residents. Figures have been extrapolated to fit ONS 2013 population projections of 50,371,000 UK adults.
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