The Philippines is the texting and mobile use capitol of Asia if not the world. Our internet use tops both the US and Canada and second only to China (but that is because of scale of numbers). Recently a new law, the Anti Distracted Driving Act, was passed because of fears that use of mobile phones while driving may cause more deaths and road crashes.

Now, a survey in the United Kingdom may be validating this fear after it showed that motor vehicle drivers actually fear other drivers who are either drunk, under the influence of drugs or using mobile devices while driving.

In fact, according to the survey, drivers checking social media is the biggest single perceived threat that road users feel – slightly higher than those who text and email, and closely followed by drink and drug drivers.

The survey of more than 2,000 motorists found that more than 90% of those surveyed 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%). Aggression behind the wheel was also identified as a problem, with 75% of those surveyed believing this a danger to their personal safety.

When asked about their own driving habits, about one in three (30%) said they drove slower than others on the road, while just over half (55%) said they drove at the same speed as others around them, with only one in seven willing to admit to going faster than everyone else.

“In the three years we have been running this survey, people’s worries about drivers using new smartphone technology have remained consistently high. And while public awareness of the dangers of using handheld mobile phones is now good, almost 60% of drivers still believe it is acceptable to use a hands free phone despite growing evidence of the distraction this can cause.”

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy And Research 

IAM RoadSmart’s survey also found there is little tolerance for breaking motoring laws; 50% of drivers feel it is unacceptable to drive 10mph higher than the speed limit on a motorway. This figure falls substantially for other forms of speeding such as driving at 5mph more than the limit on a residential road (76% unacceptable), and driving at 5mph greater than the limit near a school (90% unacceptable).

While 45% thought it was acceptable to drive using a hands-free phone, that figure drops to just 9% when it comes to a hand-held one.

The least accepted actions surveyed were driving when the motorist thought they had too much to drink (6%) and driving after using marijuana (7%).

“With three years of data there are several other trends emerging which do cause us some concern. 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. Road safety activities have suffered from recent public spending cuts but our survey shows that key issues still remain that must be tackled through education, training and publicity.”

IAM RoadSmart