Top 5 Annoying Driving Habits

 

DRIVING doesn’t have to be a stressful experience; it isn’t difficult to drive safely, and provided

that everyone follows the same rules and acts sensibly there’s no reason why the roads

shouldn’t be peaceful and harmonious places.

 

Unfortunately it seems that not everyone is willing to put in the effort. Let’s take a look at

five very annoying driving habits which are guaranteed to make driving more difficult for

other motorists, and, in some cases, to put you in direct danger of damaging your car and

hurting yourself.

1. Aggressive driving: We drive in order to get somewhere, and it can be tempting to try

and get there as quickly as possible,   at the cost of other road-users. Aggressive driving

isn’t likely to win you any friends. Cutting people up, undertaking and speeding are all

dangerous, legally dubious, and a quick way to anger drivers around you. Similarly, sounding

your horn at the slightest provocation doesn’t do anyone  any favours – according to the

Highway Code, the horn should only be used when you need to alert other road users to your

presence as a matter of urgency in order to avert an accident.

 

2. Driving blind: Some people seem to forget that there’s more to driving than keeping your eyes on the road in front of them. Your mirrors are there for a reason, and should be used. The more you drive, the more bad habits can develop, and you may find yourself manoeuvring before checking your mirrors. This is one of the quickest ways to annoy other drivers, and can be particularly dangerous to cyclists.

Drivers failing to correctly observe what was going on around them is one of the most common contributory factors in accidents; it was reported as a cause in 40 per cent of all accidents reported to the police in 2010.

 

3. Communication breakdown: A car is fitted with indicators for a reason – so drivers can indicate to each-other when they are about to change lanes, turn at a junction, or otherwise change their position on the road. When drivers forget to use them, it can cause chaos.

Drivers who forget to indicate make driving very difficult for those around them. Also, it’s polite to take any safe opportunity to thank other drivers if they’ve accommodated you on the road. You don’t have to flash your lights – in fact, according to the Highway Code you should only flash your lights when you need to make another driver aware of your presence.

 

A simple, safe hand gesture should do the trick. Showing other drivers that you’re aware of their actions should help put them at ease.

 

4. Driving distracted: Few things are more likely to annoy drivers than seeing another motorist who is obviously not concentrating at the task at hand. Last year figures from the Telegraph reveal that around 20% of UK drivers admitted to accessing a social media website on their mobile device while driving.

 

That’s a shocking statistic. It’s illegal to drive whilst using a handheld mobile phone for an obvious and valid reason – driving is not something you can do with 20% of your brain while the other 80% concentrates on your conversation.

 

Remember that if you end up in an accident in such a way you are not only likely to see a big rise in your car insurance quotes, but driving in this manner is to take other’s lives into your hands.

 

But phones aren’t the only offender – whether you’re doing your make-up in the mirror or reprimanding your children - if you’re trying to multi-task you’re not driving correctly.

 

5. Poor parking: When you come to the end of a car journey, you want to park your car somewhere safe and ideally not a million miles away from your final destination. But other drivers sometimes have other ideas.

 

Using up more than one parking space, parking too close to other vehicles, or parking in prohibited areas make life more difficult for other drivers, and may well see you stuck with one of the 4,000,000 parking fines issued annually by British Councils.