03 Oct, 2011 
UK motorists say:
- Young car drivers and white van drivers are considered the rudest behind the wheel
- Car drivers using their mobiles is our biggest bugbear
- 1/3 of all motorists lack courtesy
Motorists need a fuel injection of manners according to a new poll by Confused.com. The majority of us consider ourselves to be courteous drivers (92%) but we think that almost 1 in 3 (31%) of other motorists are in the slow lane when it comes to courtesy in the car.
If we could stop other drivers doing one thing while driving we would put pay to using mobile phones at the wheel (27%), tailgating (23%) and showing aggressive behavior (22%). We’d also like to see more drivers indicating at junctions (35%); less litter thrown out of car windows (17%) more drivers let out at junctions (11%).
London and the North West are home to the rudest drivers (by their own admission), and young drivers, older drivers, people in white vans and in 4 wheel drives are our biggest bugbears on the road according to a UK poll of 2,000 motorists*.
To help reduce rudeness on the road, Confused.com has teamed up with expert and mens’ magazine writer Simeon De La Torre, to offer some essential tips for driving etiquette.
Confused.com etiquette guide to driving, by Simeon De La Torre
1) Be aware that objects (i.e. fast food wrappers, cigarette packets, bottles of urine) will not magically disappear despite being placed directly underneath your car when stationary. They will still be there for the rest of us when you drive away. (And let’s not forget, littering is illegal folks.)
2) If you’re driving at night and someone flashes their lights at you, it’s unlikely to be a long-lost friend desperately trying to make contact. It’s more likely to be a concerned driver desperate to prevent you from ploughing, unseen, into a blind junction. So check that your lights are on rather than wave.
3) When reaching into your pockets, think: do I want to make a phone call, or do I want to drive somewhere? If it’s the former, pull out your mobile; if it’s the latter, go for your car keys. This will hopefully prevent you from trying to do both at once, which is not only (wallet-cripplingly) illegal, but it saves the rest of us from a host of insane manoeuvres.
4) They’re called indicators because they give other road users an indication of what you’re about to do. So use them in advance of a manoeuvre, rather than as an apologetic afterthought.
5) Remember: the interior of your car is still part of the real world, which means that your actions should reflect those of someone from a civilised society. So go easy on the nose picking, and be aware that threatening behaviour carries a jail sentence.
6) When driving on the motorway, understand that some motorists make an effort to maintain a safe, legal, braking distance behind the car in front. They’ve not created this space especially for you to squeeze into.
7) If you’re nose to tail in traffic, nearby drivers have no escape from your car stereo, so wind the volume in a bit. Similarly, check for passing pedestrians before letting-fly with the windscreen wash. That stuff flies through the air and finds a target like an Exocet.
8) Oncoming traffic is under no obligation to move out of your way if you can’t be bothered to wait for a safe place to overtake a cyclist on your side of the road.
9) If you ever glance out of your passenger window and see a car overtaking you, ask yourself: Am I in the wrong lane here? The answer will almost always be yes, so it’s probably best to get back into the right lane (and to pay a bit more attention to the road, for that matter).
10) Had a spat with a fellow motorist, but you’re now following them and have broken from your intended route? You’ve crossed the line into psychopathy and are in fact driving towards a jail sentence. Make a U-turn at the next possible opportunity.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
For more information please contact Helen Beckett or Sarah Wenham at Confused.com
Email Helen.beckett@confused.com or phone 07551 005 877
Email Sarah.wenham@confused.com or phone 02920 434275
*The poll of 2,000 drivers in the UK was carried out by Onepoll on behalf of Confused.com and all figures have been rounded up to the nearest 1%
About Confused.com:
Confused.com was the UK's first price comparison site for car insurance. Confused.com is one of the biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include home insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, breakdown cover and energy, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance.
Confused.com is not a supplier, insurance company or broker. It provides a free, objective and unbiased comparison service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com's service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators.
Confused.com is owned by the Admiral Group plc. Admiral listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004. Confused.com is regulated by the FSA.
About Sim De La Torre:
FHM’s longest-serving freelancer, Sim also writes regularly for virtually all of the titles in the men’s sector and was involved in the launches of Nuts, Zoo and ShortList, Britain’s biggest men’s magazine.
