Surprising results: Who’s the worst drivers on our roads?

Road safety is no accident.

While that saying may be part of a Queensland Road Safety campaign, it’s true enough.

Some accidents are just that, but there are some that are easily preventable. But which drivers cause the most problems on the road and what is it they do?

Commercial drivers

According to Australian based research by Tom Tom Telematics, many near accidents are caused by commercial drivers.

Tom Tom Telematics compiled a survey questions that included the following:

In the past year, have you been put into a dangerous situation due to the driving habits of commercial drivers?

Would you be less likely to do business with a company whose employees drive recklessly?

To the first question 52 per cent said yes. To the second 77 per cent said yes.

Christopher Chisman-Duffy, sales manager at TomTom Telematics Australia , believes business owners need to do more to improve the driving standards of their employees, otherwise they risk damage to their reputation.

“I think business owners may be surprised by the results of this survey and the extent to which poor driving standards can impact their companies and reputations. This is going to become an important factor for business, as consumers increasingly expect services delivered directly to their door,” Christopher Chisman-Duffy said.

“Telematics technology can play a key role in helping companies tackle issues around driving standards by providing employees with access to the appropriate training, guidance and technological aids.”

Bad drivers

Other questions on the Tom Tom Telematics survey related to the type of vehicles drivers were in.

Of all the types of vehicles on the road, the survey results showed the worst of the drivers were either in an SUV or sports car, each coming in at 32 per cent. Trucks and motorcycles were next with 29 per cent each with utes close behind on 28 per cent.

On the flip side small cars were shown to be the most polite.

Bad habits

When it comes to actual driver behaviour however, there are a number of things that will annoy others on the road, and more survey results showed that.

The pet peeve for most motorists was those who failed to indicate. While that received 78 per cent of the people saying it annoyed them, using the phone while driving was close behind, with 77 per cent voting for this too.

Other annoying driving habits included veering in and out of lanes (65 per cent) and jumping the queue (61 per cent). Surprisingly only 30 per cent were annoyed if the person first in line at the lights missed the change to a green light.

Have you ever had a close accident? What is your pet peeve on the roads?