What Distracts Motorists The Most?

Monday, 3. November 2008

So what’s distracting motorists the most? For the ladies is it the dress shop with that great dress in the window or the little lambs playing in the field or for the men is it that page 3 model who just happens to be walking down the street as you are driving down it or the brand new Aston Martin that you are just about to burn off from the traffic lights? Or of course in these enlightened times it could be the other way round with the men loving the dress or the woman about to see off the Aston Martin, either way you would be wrong. And for those smarty pants that thought it was either your mobile phone or Sat Nav system you’d be wrong also according to the latest ‘Report On Motoring’ produced by the RAC. The biggest distraction, affecting over half of all motorists surveyed (54%) was the Radio/CD/DVD player with the most affected being the 17 to 24 year old age group (63%). Just over a third (35%) said that heating and air conditioning controls forced them to take their eyes off the road and distract their mind whilst a similar number said that their mobile phone and Sat Nav carried the same level of distraction. David Bizley, technical director of the RAC, pointed out that technology has moved on greatly since the late 1980’s. The leaps forward have been in two areas of technology, active and passive. Active includes in-car entertainment which can be very distracting whereas passive includes things like Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and immobilisers which are undervalued and not fully understood as they come on automatically. The report found that while ABS and immobilisers are fitted as standard on new cars by law only 70% of motorists knew they had ABS and only 68% knew they had immobilisers. Often when a new car is handed over the dealer focuses on the active technology but doesn’t explain the passive technology and how it works. Very few drivers were found to understand all of the dashboard warning signs, for example only 50% understood the airbag sign. So the message here is make sure you understand all technology in the car and not just how to change radio stations and beware of distractions – both inside and outside the car! By Graham Hill