We report on some strange old surveys on these pages and some of them come from the most unusual of sources. Well not to break with tradition, we are going to tell you about a study about the nations driving habits which has been completed by “Specsavers” the opticians and you just know at some point here, they are going to recommend regular eye tests don’t you.
OK, the survey said driving is the third most dangerous thing you can do at work and you will be interested to know that if you drive 25,000 miles a year as part of job, the only people worse off than you or undertaking a more hazardous occupation than you are deep sea fishermen or coal miners. Bet you needed to know that.
It’s estimated that 33% of all road accidents involve people driving for work and in hard numbers, this equates to around 1,000 deaths and 13,000 serious injuries every year. Almost 30% of drivers admitted to having an accident or a near miss because they were simply not concentrating properly on the road and that’s why Specsavers are advocating the need for regular eye regular eye examinations.
Companies can be at risk of prosecution if an employee who is driving on their behalf is involved in an accident and with the Corporate Manslaughter Act now in place, we are not talking about a slap on the wrist, but huge penalties, so perhaps the advertising strap line “should have gone to Specsavers” might not be so silly after all.
The report showed a different side of motorist’s behaviour and a study of 3,000 drivers revealed that the average driver in Britain will spend around five hours and 44 minutes behind the wheel each week and a touch over 16% of that time sitting stationary in traffic and the survey goes on to tell us that that equates to just over one day each month or (assuming you begin driving from the age of 17) it equates to 6,182 hours or eight months and two weeks of your life, sitting in a jam waiting for it to move.
Not content however to sit and wait for the traffic to move, we have to do something to keep us amused and the study said that this can range from playing games on their mobile phone, or perhaps checking their facebook profile, which I guess encompasses checking e-mail, or maybe having a quick “Tweet”. So unsurprisingly, around 10% of us admitted to having actually had an accident because they got themselves distracted while being stuck in a jam.
19% of us say we get stuck in traffic every day, but as they say, you’re not stuck in traffic – you are traffic.
Finally, the top ten things that people do when stuck in traffic (according to the report) are:-
- Listen to music
- Watch other drivers in their cars
- Watch people out on the street
- Send a text message
- Make a phone call
- Have something to eat
- Check their Facebook or Twitter profile
- Send e-mails
- Apply make-up
- Play games on their mobile phone
19% of us say we get stuck in traffic every day, but as they say, you’re not stuck in traffic – you are traffic.
