16 Apr 2015
Posted by Miriam O'Neill 
Read our latest Motor Insurance press release below:
From scatty to dangerous; inexperience shines through
5 most common “dumb” things drivers do revealed
A finding that is sure to make many the male driver smirk, ladies it seems, are far more likely than men to be found scratching their heads trying to remember where they’ve parked their cars.
57% of the females compared to 41% of the males who took part in a recent AA Motor Insurance Poll of more than 5,500 people said they had done so at least once within the last year.
Of further fodder to the chauvinists out there, a higher percentage of female participants (18%) than males (11%), admitted they’d lost a car park ticket on one or more occasions during the past twelve months.
On the other hand more men (7%) than women (4%) polled by AA Motor Insurance said they had made the error of flooding their tanks with the wrong fuel. The mistake of running a red light was also found to be a more common blunder among men (26%) than women (22%).
The poll by AA Motor Insurance also gives some good insight into the propensity to make dangerous errors based on age and driving experience.
Of the age groups analysed, the under 24s emerged as the most likely to have accidentally broken a red light (38%), gone the wrong way down a one way street (20%), blocked a junction to oncoming traffic (22%), driven away with something on their roof (21%) and to have had something fly off a roof rack or trailer (3%).
While more annoying than unsafe, the incidence of leaving the lights on, locking the keys in and forgetting where the car was parked were also highest among the young drivers polled by AA Motor Insurance.
“It’s interesting to see these results and not at all surprising that the least experienced drivers are most likely to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them.” Says Conor Faughnan, Director of Consumer Affairs, AA Ireland. “As for the findings around gender, it tends to be the polar opposite in my house, but enough said about that one for now.”
5 most common “dumb” things drivers do:
- Forgot where they’ve parked.
- Try to open the car door and realise it isn’t their car.
- Accidentally running red lights.
- Leave their lights on.
- Accidentally setting off their alarms.
Ends
Notes to the editor;
Fig. 1 Whether or not respondents had done the following within the last 12 months?
(Based on 5,555 responses gathered via online poll during March 2015)
| ALL RESPONDENTS | MALES ONLY | FEMALES ONLY | |
| Forgot where you’ve parked. | 48% | 41% | 57% |
| Tried to open a car door and realised it wasn’t your car. | 28% | 26% | 31% |
| Accidentally run a red light. | 25% | 26% | 22% |
| Left your lights on. | 20% | 21% | 19% |
| Accidentally set off your car alarm. | 16% | 18% | 13% |
| Realised you’d lost your car park ticket when you went to pay. | 14% | 11% | 18% |
| Blocked part of a junction for the oncoming traffic | 14% | 14% | 14% |
| Missed the coin basket at a toll booth. | 12% | 13% | 12% |
| Driven away with something on your car roof | 9% | 9% | 8% |
| Driven into a bollard/similar | 7% | 7% | 7% |
| Driven away with the petrol cap open | 7% | 8% | 5% |
| Gone the wrong way down a one way street | 7% | 7% | 7% |
| Put the wrong fuel in your car | 6% | 7% | 4% |
| Locked your keys in the car | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| Driven away and forgotten to pay for petrol | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Had something fall off a roof rack/trailer | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Got stuck on Luas/train tracks | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| 17-24 YRS(117 resps.) | 25-35 YRS(789 reps.) | 36-45 YRS(1,101 resps.) | 46-55YRS(1,272 resps.) | 56-65 YRS (1,076 resps.) | OVER 65YRS(847 resps.) | |
| Forgot where you’ve parked. | 62% | 50% | 48% | 49% | 47% | 42% |
| Tried to open a car door and realised it wasn’t your car. | 27% | 19% | 22% | 29% | 33% | 34% |
| Accidentally run a red light. | 38% | 27% | 27% | 22% | 24% | 22% |
| Left your lights on. | 43% | 25% | 22% | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| Accidentally set off your car alarm. | 16% | 18% | 19% | 15% | 15% | 13% |
| Realised you’d lost your car park ticket when you went to pay. | 16% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 12% | 10% |
| Blocked part of a junction for the oncoming traffic | 22% | 21% | 17% | 14% | 12% | 9% |
| Missed the coin basket at a toll booth. | 13% | 14% | 11% | 14% | 13% | 11% |
| Driven away with something on your car roof | 21% | 11% | 10% | 8% | 7% | 8% |
| Driven into a bollard/similar | 8% | 7% | 8% | 6% | 7% | 7% |
| Driven away with the petrol cap open | 3% | 5% | 5% | 6% | 8% | 9% |
| Gone the wrong way down a one way street | 20% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 7% | 5% |
| Put the wrong fuel in your car | 1% | 3% | 5% | 6% | 7% | 8% |
| Locked your keys in the car | 9% | 4% | 4% | 5% | 4% | 5% |
| Driven away and forgotten to pay for petrol | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Had something fall off a roof rack/trailer | 3% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Got stuck on Luas/train tracks | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
To get an AA Motor Insurance quote click here
Feature Image by todayiwill.com / Resized from original
