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Driving Safety Factors – Are You a Safe Driver?
When we think about the attributes that may contribute to a person being a safe driver, personal traits such as concentration, hand-eye coordination and remaining calm under pressure may spring to mind. But what about other factors such as demographics and lifestyle?
There has always been the age old belief (mainly held by men!) that men are better drivers than women, but the analysis tells a very different story. This article explores various influences that have been proven by data to have an effect on a person’s ability to drive safely.
The results may shatter some previous held stereotypes!
Occupation
Recent data from MoneySuperMarket suggests that what you do for a living can have an effect on your ability to drive safely. The results were based on 7.8 million enquiries over the last year, and were calculated by counting up offences per 1,000 drivers in specific professions.
Some of the safest drivers according to the research were lawyers, vets, demolition workers and head-teachers. No real surprises here (However, it’s good to know that demolition workers don’t take their work home with them!), but the other end of the table is a little more shocking.
Priests are one set of professionals who are likely to be less forgiving on the motorway. They are 4th in the list of most dangerous drivers with 4.06 convictions per 1000.
Only loaders, car dealers and tyre technicians provide a saving grace for the clergy.
Gender
There has always been a battle of the sexes regarding who is the better driver, but ultimately who does the data declare the winner?
According to research recently carried out by Flexed using information from The Department of Transport, 7% of all driving license holders in the UK have penalty points. Of these, 9% of men have driving offences and (drum roll)….only 4% of women have similar indiscretions.
Of all drivers who have 12 points or more (i.e. likely to have received a court sentence) 87% are male and 13% are female. This well and truly lays this well-trodden argument down to rest, with the ‘fairer sex’ as the winner.
Music taste
It may not have ever crossed your mind that your choice of music in the car may affect how erratic you are behind the wheel, but according to analysis by the South China University Of Technology this is very much the case.
On first inspection, Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’, Miley Cyrus’s ‘Party In The USA’ and ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers may not seem to have very much in common. However, they all have a fast tempo of 120BPM or higher, which makes these songs part of the most dangerous soundtrack to drive to.
To supress the desire to speed and weave in and out of traffic, it is good practice to listen to songs which are a little slower in tempo. ‘Stairway To Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Under The Bridge’ and ‘God’s Plan’ by Drake all come highly recommended of the back of this analysis.
Location
It is difficult to explain why location may be a factor in terms of the standard of your driving, but again according to the research by Flexed you are much more likely to have points on your licence if you live in West Yorkshire.
Halifax, Bradford and Huddersfield residents all have a 1 in 10 chance of having driving offences.
However, opposite to this, the safest drivers seem to congregate around the South East. Inhabitants of London in the Eastern Central, Western Central districts and in Canterbury all have an approximately 1 in 25 chance of having points on their licence.
Who knows why this is the case, but the facts don’t lie!
Flexed.co.uk specialises in offering hassle-free and cost-effective short term car leasing for 28 days or more.
