People updating social media or sending text messages while driving, drink or drug driving and mobile phone use are the biggest safety concerns for road users, new research has revealed.
According to IAM RoadSmart’s third annual Safety Culture Survey, around 90% of those questioned thought that the dangers caused by people accessing social media or email messages while driving was a significant threat to their personal safety and that the problem is increasing, with 80% believing the problem more significant than three years ago.
Driving while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs also remains an issue, with 90% of drivers surveyed identifying this as a serious safety problem. And while around half of the drivers surveyed believe the dangers posed by drink-driving have remained the same over time, the problem of people driving under the influence of drugs is increasing, with 64% identifying this as more significant over the last three years.
Other key risks to personal safety on the road identified in the survey include talking on mobile phones (89%), speeding on residential streets (87%), drivers ignoring red lights (87%) and tired drivers (86%).
“In the three years we have been running this survey, people’s worries about drivers using new smartphone technology have remained consistently high,” commented Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research.
“With three years of data there are several other trends emerging which do cause us some concern,” he added. “Around a quarter of drivers still feel it is acceptable to speed at 5mph over the limit in residential areas and one in in ten believe it is alright to get behind the wheel after taking alcohol and marijuana. These figure show we have a long way to go before all the dangers caused by reckless driver behaviour are eradicated from our streets.”
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