Ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend, one of the busiest times on the road, new research has revealed that young women are the most likely to get aggro behind the wheel, while young men are more likely to speed.
The research, carried out by insurance company AIG, showed that 61% of female motorists aged between 25 and 34 have suffered from road rage at some point. When it came to men, it was 35 to 44 year olds who suffer from it the most (46%) while overall over one in three (36%) say they have suffered from its effects.
The causes of road rage were mostly other drivers, with 59% of respondents saying that was the cause of their ire, while other annoying factors included bad parking (29%) and traffic jams (26%). The bad driving of others was an irritant too, but it was also ranked as the biggest distraction by motorists (64%), while mobile phones (26%) and passengers (14%) come in second and third.
When it came to driving too fast, 61% of male drivers aged 18-24 say they break the speed limit at least once a week, with 26% saying they break the limit daily. For women just 39% said they broke the speed limit weekly, while that figure dropped even further to 13% when it came to breaking the limit on a daily basis.
Among the 427 drivers surveyed, aged 18 to 64 (55% male/45% female), 95% of them said that they thought they were safe drivers (despite all the speeding and the road rage admissions) with no big differences between the categories or age groups in that regard.
Speaking about the fidings General Manager of AIG in Ireland, Declan O’Rourke stated that "it's clear from the research carried out that bad driver behaviour, particularly speeding, is an ongoing problem and anything that can be done to alleviate this is a step in the right direction. The XLNTdriver app rewards safer driving and encourages drivers to improve their driving habits. AIG hope that this in turn will help lead to safer roads".
