Report on motoring 2005 - summary

Car dependency is now at its highest level since RAC began monitoring it 17 years ago. Now nine in 10 motorists would find it very difficult to adjust their lifestyles to being without a car and admit to using their car every single day. With the average motorist clocking up nearly 11,000 miles per year and almost half of them being part of a two car family, it's clear that the car has a pivotal role in British life. But with this dependency and in order to retain an individual's 'right to drive' comes a trade-off; owning and using a car is often far from being fun and enjoyable. It comes with various frustrations and some considerable dangers, which if we are to attempt to mitigate, need to be tackled in a concerted way. This Report focuses on how we might do that in order to bring more enjoyment back to driving.

The majority of British motorists are under-whelmed by car ownership, considering their vehicle to be'just another household appliance' which they are increasingly dependent upon in daily life. Smaller proportions confess to a more emotional bond, with 22% considering their car to be 'a toy to have some fun with', 24% as 'something impressive to be seen in' and 29% 'a close friend or confidante'. Not surprisingly, it is the younger, 'flashier' drivers who are most likely to consider their cars in one of these ways; older and low mileage drivers are far more ambivalent. With this in mind, it figures that many motorists think driving is a drag; 44% of them believe that 'All the fun has gone out of driving these days' and only 14% disagree strongly with this sentiment. Again, it is younger drivers who find motoring most fun (perhaps because passing their test represents a taste of real freedom and adulthood), a factor that diminishes slightly the more points one gains on one's licence for driving offences.

Our sample was not uniform in identifying the types of thing that make driving tough or irritating; when offered the choice of 10 factors that would make driving more enjoyable the vote was split. However, the top three choices were: making middle and fast lane hogging a driving offence, removing speed bumps and removing all speed cameras. These choices point to a reality on our roads drivers are individuals and in most cases consider their motoring experiences selfishly rather than with the good of all road users in mind. These results also suggest that other motorists' selfish behaviour is most annoying to them, followed closely by initiatives that place restrictions on their own driving speed.

But it is in looking at the entirety of the picture rather than individual behaviours that allows us to understand some of the problems, frustrations and agonies that motorists face. Though congestion and selfish driving may be annoying they are nowhere near as critical as tackling the problems that result in nearly 300,000 deaths and serious injuries on our roads every year, a good proportion of which are caused by speeding or drink driving, and increasingly other offences of dangerous driving.

In order to understand how and why some drivers commit these types of dangerous offences, we need to understand the main traits that make drivers tick. The RAC Report on Motoring has identified seven key traits that are present to different degrees in each driver. The Report then describes six major typologies which make up the vast majority of British motorists, demonstrating that though some of them pose few significant road safety risks, others are far more inclined to drive dangerously, recklessly and to habitually break motoring laws. The two worst offending groups are made up of young and middle aged male drivers who either see driving as a game or as necessity where it's easy to transgress the law and not get caught if you're clever about it. By reaching these motorists and seeking to change their behaviours we might improve this country's road safety record, whilst at the same time improving standards amongst other motorists, many of whom admit to frequent minor infringements.

Although 84% of our sample considered themselves to be law-abiding, 55% admit to exceeding the speed limit a little every day. Compared to last year's Report, we have seen a significant increase in the admission of lawless behaviour, with speeding being the most common offence. This has come at the same time as record numbers of speeding convictions that have been made by Police and Safety Camera Partnerships suggesting that detection has improved. Public awareness campaigns have sought to demonstrate the fact that dangerous and inappropriate speeding kills. The defiant admission of speeding behaviour by our sample has also corresponded with some anger about the use of cameras for speed policing. Few motorists consider that the current regime will make them slow down or stick to the speed limit as a matter of course; our more fervent speeders would respond to more traffic Police or a 'big brother' system where their movements are monitored by an in-car electronic device. A mixture of human detection and high-tech monitoring could be used to clamp down on dangerous speeders. If increased penalties were introduced to attempt to deter perpetual and dangerous speeders, schemes would have to be rather draconian to effect a major behavioural change, for example, instant driving bans or prison sentences. As these penalties seem unrealistic and politically unacceptable it may be that improved enforcement and detection would be the most appropriate means with which to experiment, together with education schemes, such as driver retraining and speed awareness. At the same time, motorist goodwill could be fostered by donating the balance of revenue relating to fines to a road safety fund rather than it going to the Treasury. Finally, given that the Report suggests that the worst offenders might be 'named and shamed' into better behaviour, a requirement for displaying their penalty points on their windscreen might lead to an improvement in behaviour.

Drink and drug driving remain considerable problems for law enforcers and policy makers to address. Amongst some, particularly younger age groups, this behaviour is on the increase so concerted action needs to be taken to halt this worrying trend. 20% of the sample admitted to drink driving, with by far the highest incidence coming amongst young, male drivers in London. Given the fact that drink driving is largely socially unacceptable and hard-hitting education campaigns have been in existence now for many years, it's perhaps unsurprising that perpetual drink drivers would only change their behaviour if a technical solution, like an alcolock, was to prevent their car starting or if they felt the real likelihood of being caught was far greater than it currently is. Therefore, serious focus should go into the development of alcolock devices; fitting them as standard in passenger vehicles could certainly be a cheaper solution than the enforcement resources that might be necessary to make motorists believe that they have a good chance of being stopped on any journey. Only very severe penalty regimes such as lifetime or long-term driving bans would have the same impact on behaviour as the alcolock, though there could be a role for 'naming and shaming' offenders or reducing the current legal alcohol limit. Better roadside detection methods would certainly help crack down on the worrying increase in drug driving, whilst continued education is essential to communicate the dangers of both drink and drug driving.

Beyond the sphere of the most dangerous driving habits are a number of anti-social traits, some of which can and do lead to accidents. Interestingly, though motorists consider transgressions like driving with a hand-held mobile phone to be dangerous if committed by other drivers, many consider their own driving skills to be beyond reproach; 76% believe themselves to be safer than other drivers. These attitudes are perhaps symptomatic of today's 'me' society. This said, worrying numbers of motorists admit to a range of poor and dangerous habits ranging from jumping red lights, undertaking and blocking junctions to road rage, using a hand-held mobile and cutting people up. Few consider this behaviour to be serious or dangerous, particularly as they rarely get caught. Yet again, it would take a radical increase in detection and more stringent penalties for this sort of behaviour to change. An enhanced commitment to highly visible road Policing, announced by the Transport Minister, the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers in January 2005, is an important step towards providing an active deterrent. Education also has a part to play to remind the worst offenders what's legal and the impact of their discourteous and often dangerous behaviour.

Illegal parking is rarely dangerous to other road users but it is a source of frustration for motorists, many of whom believe that there are too few legal spaces available and far too stringent and draconian an enforcement regime. RAC believes that this source of motorist agony has received enough penalty and enforcement focus and that more attention should now be paid to more serious transgressions, such as a failure by large numbers of motorists to keep their vehicle documentation up to date. Those guilty of this are creating a growing motoring 'underclass' whose actions often cost law-abiding motorists dearly as a result of collisions with uninsured or unroadworthy vehicles. Whilst this behaviour certainly needs to be dealt with in the most concerted fashion, a considerable number (11%) of usually law-abiding motorists do admit to some dishonesty when it comes to gaining an insurance quote by lying about where the car is parked overnight. Could it be that the cost of certain motoring-related charges is just too much for drivers facing increasing numbers of parking and speeding fines and rising fuel costs?

The Report demonstrates the wide range of issues facing drivers, Government and law enforcers when it comes to dealing with the often hectic and challenging reality that is our British road network. Our hope is that some of the insights it gives into motorists' instincts will help policy makers as they develop strategies of penalty, detection and education and explore preventative measures, particularly those available through in-car technology, to reduce the incidence of bad and dangerous behaviour and make our roads a more enjoyable environment for all to use.

The RAC Report on Motoring 2005 costs £250.00.