One in ten crashes caused by distractions

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is warning drivers about the dangers of distracted driving after research found that nearly one in ten (9%) of drivers admit to crashing their cars because they were distracted. Just under one in twenty drivers (4%) say that someone was injured in the crash.

The IAM/Vision Critical survey, which polled nearly 1500 regular UK drivers aged 18 years and over, also found that of the 500 divers who admitted to having a near miss, almost one in five (18%) then went on have a crash.  

The most common distractions are:

• Children in the car (29%)
• Changing the radio channel (27%)
• Back seat drivers (26%)
• Mobile phone use (24%)
• Sat nav (15%)
• Attractive pedestrians, drivers or passengers (14%)

The most crash-prone drivers come from London and the South East, where 14% of drivers admitted to distraction crashes.  The lowest crash rates are in Wales (3%), Yorkshire and Humber (4%) and South West England (5%),

Men are nearly twice as likely to crash because of a distraction than women (11% and 6%).

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “If you think you can multitask and drive then think again. Using mobile phones and other distractions were a factor in more than one hundred deaths on our roads last year, every one of them avoidable.”

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