Is driving safer than 25 years ago?

As with most things, technology has made driving significantly easier. We’ve got Sat Nav (making life easier most of the time), plenty of warning lights to let us know if we need to check anything or if anything needs topping up (or servicing), and even ‘beeps’ to tell us we’re about to run the cat over.

These are all remarkable technological advances, but perhaps the most significant developments in car technology have been in improving the safety of our vehicles. We’ve got airbags, ABS and crumple zones - and safety information on the roads has also improved: you get plenty of notice if traffic is slow or there is an accident up ahead. All of these factors, perhaps combined with better awareness about safe driving - and well serviced cars - have meant that the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on our roads have halved since 1988: pretty startling.

Yet, according to an RAC Survey only 30% of us say that we feel ‘very safe’ driving nowadays. Why is this? It is only when you start looking at the figures that you see that it is not the safety of our cars that people are concerned about; rather it is the safety of the drivers. One third of respondents to the RAC’s survey pointed to ‘more aggressive’ driving as being the biggest change in motoring, with a similar number having been the victim of road-rage.

The term road-rage was first coined in 1994 when a rash of stories appeared in the press about aggressive drivers. It is now a common term; there is even a website: My Road Rage which encourages witnesses or victims of roadrage to list offenders who are ‘named and shamed’ on their website. Their motto: Don’t get mad get even!

So, maybe it is the way that we drive, or the things that we do behind the wheel that really ‘winds us up’ and make us feel unsafe on the roads. The RAC’s survey highlighted the following as being likely to have us heading for www.myroadrage.com:

• 55% pointed the finger at drivers who hog the fast lane on motorways and won’t pull over for other cars
• 70% flagged up drivers who cut in sharply after overtaking
• 55% couldn’t stomach drivers who drove too slowly for the conditions
• 79% picked up on drivers who didn’t ‘indicate their intentions clearly’
• And, at 84%, the most ‘road-rage inducing’ driving style was ‘people driving too close behind you’.

It seems that we have become generally less ‘courteous’ drivers, and are more willing to engage in the kind of pushy and aggressive behaviour that most of us wouldn’t dream of outside of our vehicles. The RAC calls for us to rethink our attitude on the roads, and believes that drivers should be ‘trained and re-educated’ about safe and considerate driving. In the meantime, ensure your vehicle is in good condition, well serviced, and try to do your bit for our collective blood-pressure and keep your driving ‘polite’.