Slow motorists are driving us mad

Dawdling drivers have been revealed as the top cause of irritation for UK drivers, with over half (60 per cent) of all motorists reporting that they feel an increase in stress levels and increasingly irritable when faced with a slow driver in front.

A survey conducted on behalf of car insurance comparison website, Confused.com, shows that 45 per cent of drivers risk overtaking such slow motorists, increasing the chances of an accident. Research from the Department for Transport also reveals that 143 accidents a year are caused directly by slow drivers or ‘Sunday drivers,’ as they are known.

With little to prevent drivers from travelling too slowly, half of British motorists are supporting the idea to introduce the first ever ‘slow speed camera’ to the roads of the UK. The slow speed camera will specifically catch slow motorists, penalising them with a fine for driving slower than the minimum designated speed limit. This has come as a reaction to the fact that although minimum speed limits are enforced on some UK motorways, there are few preventative measures that are used widely.

Nearly a third of motorists report that they have had an incident or ‘near miss’ on the roads caused by a slow driver. As a result, in 2011 the Government introduced a scheme which allows for £100 on-the-spot fine for careless driving-including those that drive too slow.

Gareth Kloet, Head of Car Insurance at Confused.com says: “Slow drivers need to be taken as seriously as motorists caught speeding. Findings confirm they are a constant source of anxiety on UK roads and responsible for a large amount of accidents each year.”

Kloet continues: “We support the introduction of a programme of measures to eliminate this hazard as our research has highlighted that excessively slow driving is a real problem – the government introduced speed cameras and now even a super speed camera so should also consider the same rigour to combat slow driving as it could make a difference and help reduce motorists putting themselves or others at risk.”

The research was conducted by One Poll for Confused.com with a survey base of 2000 UK respondents who are car owners.

Author: Faye Sunderland, July 20th, 2011
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