- Mobile phone use. Over 100 comments were made stating that mobile phone users are one of the main hazards that we face on the roads.
- Speeding – Motorists complained of a worsening culture of impatience and speed, often blamed on the values that were prevalent during the Celtic Tiger years
- Aggressive driving and tailgating
- Inability to use motorways correctly – over 50 of the 894 comments received mentioned motorway use, and interestingly many of these observations came from driver who had learnt to drive in other countries, mostly the UK but also USA, Australia and continental Europe.
- The behaviour of cyclists, especially in Dublin city.
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IRISH DRIVER BEHAVIOUR HAS IMPROVED, BUT NOT MUCH...
The AA has conducted a survey of nearly 7000 Irish motorists and the results show that most people feel that Irish driving standards have improved in the last ten years – but not by much.
AA Motorists’ Panel members were asked whether in their view the behaviour of car drivers, truck drivers, bus drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists had got better or worse in the last ten years. Overall the result was positive – most people felt that standards were better now. But the results were far from unanimous and many people felt that Irish drivers had got worse, not better.
43% of respondents felt that car drivers had improved in the last decade, but 37.5% said that they had got worse. 31.9% felt that truck drivers had improved, but 31.2% said they had not. 28.6% said that motorcyclists had improved, but 26.3% said not. Cyclists came out worst in the survey but again only marginally – 28.2% said their behaviour had got better but 30.9% said they had got worse.
“In overall terms, Irish road death numbers have improved greatly, and that’s the most important measure of all.” Says Director of Policy Conor Faughnan. “But there is no doubt that we have a long way to go. Our survey showed that Irish drivers still have lots of bad habits, and in terms of everyday discipline on the roads we do not compare well to other countries in Europe, even as our improving road safety record begins to match theirs. In fact foreign drivers in particular seem to find Irish driving behaviour to be poor, based on the comments that we received.”
In addition to the main findings, the AA Poll also yielded 894 detailed comments on Irish driving behaviour. Motorists complain of all sorts of crazy behaviour on the roads. The major issued raised were: