Swearing & speeding - Brits' bad driving habits revealed

Swearing at fellow road users (25%), driving too fast (18%) and eating behind the wheel (17%) top the list of British drivers’ worst driving habits, according to research commissioned by online car hire comparison site carhiremarket.com.

A massive 69% of British drivers surveyed admitted to having bad driving habits, which also included picking their nose behind the wheel (10%), overtaking in the inside lane (8%) and making hand gestures at other road users (10%)!

However, the two-faced Brits didn’t hold back in highlighting their annoyance with other drivers, with their top driving frustration being people driving while talking on their phone, highlighted by 56% of survey respondents, closely followed by tailgaters (55%) and drivers not indicating (42%).

The research shows that 78% of the Welsh admit to having bad habits behind the wheel; in contrast, Londoners had a higher opinion of themselves, with only 64% saying they have bad driving habits.

But Londoners aren’t necessarily as angelic as they appear. When asked about clipping a wing mirror or bumping another car in a car park, only just over half (57%) of Londoners said they would tell the car’s owner if they left a mark, compared to 65% in the South, 69% in the East of England and a national average of 63%.

And road users are likely to have a different experience when driving in different regions, as bad driving habits vary across Britain. More Welsh (33% compared to 25% national average) admitted to swearing at other drivers and tailgating compared to any other region, while the Scots secured a place at the top of the boy racer charts, with more drivers in this region admitting to driving too fast (22% compared to 18% national average).The survey shows you’re also more likely to see someone picking their nose behind the wheel in the Midlands than in any other area (14% compared to 10% national average).

Anel Bruns, Product Manager at an online car hire comparison site carhiremarket.com, comments: “Interestingly, this survey shows that a lot of the bad driving conduct that frustrates us is also the behaviour that many of us admit to displaying ourselves. By taking a few simple steps to becoming a calmer driver, aggressive driving behaviour such as tailgating, speeding and swearing could be minimised, making for a much more pleasant driving experience for everyone.”