Nearly one in ten men have caused accidents with their impatient driving

Monday, 07 December 2009

Nearly one in ten men admit that their impatience behind the wheel has resulted in them causing an accident, according to the Impatient Nation report from motor insurance company swiftcover.com. The report found that 37% of people in Britain say they are now more impatient than they were three years ago, with their lack of patience causing problems at home, at work and on the roads.

One of the biggest areas of frustration is on the highway where drivers who tailgate, cut-up others, talk on their phones or don't let cars out at busy junctions, drive the rest of us crazy. Ironically this frustration not only makes us impatient, it can trigger anti-social behaviour.

When it comes to driving, swiftcover.com found:

• 52% of all drivers get impatient because of rude and anti-social driving
• 52% of people say their impatience behind the wheel has led to them swearing or making rude gestures at other drivers
• 9% of men have caused an accident with their impatient driving

Unsurprisingly, men seem to be the most hot-headed with nearly 62% of male drivers confessing to swearing and gesturing to other road-users, compared with 47% of women. Regionally, drivers in the South West are the rudest with almost 60% admitting to swearing and making rude gestures, whilst the most well behaved drivers are in London where just over 38% of people say they had indulged in discourteous behaviour behind the wheel.

Despite many people taking steps to improve their levels of patience in other aspects of life - 11% have resolved to be nicer to others, whilst 5% of people have taken up yoga - It seems that on the road we are often our own worst enemies.

Tina Shortle, marketing director, explains: "It's clear that the pressure of modern society is getting to many people and depleting their stores of patience - worryingly the soaring levels of impatience has hit critical levels on the road, with dangerous implications.

"The trick is to make more time for ourselves to ease the pressure and help us become more patient. On the road, for example, we need to look at ways to ease the driving burden, such as setting up lift clubs for the school run, car-sharing for the commute to work, or perhaps just setting out earlier in the morning. If we all take small steps to show other drivers some respect, we will find ourselves a lot less impatient and stressed-out on the roads."

swiftcover.com's Impatient Nation report also found:

• 54% of all male drivers get frustrated by rude and anti-social driving, but this falls to 51% amongst women
• 62% of male drivers have sworn or made rude gestures as a result of their impatience, this compares with just 47% of women
• 60% of drivers in the South West admit to swearing and making rude gestures, the highest figure regionally
• 53% of drivers aged 45 to 54 have sworn or made rude gesture while driving and are therefore the rudest age group
• 6% of all drivers admit their impatient driving has caused an accident at least once
• This falls to 4% amongst women, but more than doubles to 9% of men
• 8% of all drivers in the Midlands admit their impatient driving has caused an accident, the same level as drivers in the East of England

Research was carried out amongst more than 2,000 people in the UK

ENDS

Notes to Editors
For press enquiries please contact:
Joshua Van Raalte or Paul Beadle
Brazil (PR agency for swiftcover.com)
01865 556 000
swiftcover@agencybrazil.com

About Swiftcover:

Based in Cobham, Surrey and employing over 350 people, www.swiftcover.com started trading in June 2005 and was born out of a desire to revolutionise the general insurance market.

swiftcover.com offers car, travel and pet insurance online, and is Britain's only insurance company without call centres, which means that the cost savings can be passed directly onto the customer and premiums are kept low. In 2008 swiftcover.com featured as the cheapest insurance quote on the comparison website moneysupermarket.com more often than any other insurer.

This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold their one millionth policy. They are considered to be the fastest growing insurer in the UK.

In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.

About AXA:

AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. AXA is a world leader in financial protection. AXA's operations are diverse with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA employs 120,000 staff and tied agents and, as of June 30 2006, had €1,091 billion in assets under management. AXA reported total IFRS revenues of €72 billion and IFRS underlying earnings of €3,258 million for the full year 2005. Our previous company performance is not a guide to how we may perform in the future.

Bookmark this article:               

Press Releases Home