IAM RoadSmart’s fourth annual Safety Culture Survey examines the attitudes and concerns of UK drivers, and has found once again that their biggest worries revolve around the many uses that people have developed for smartphones when they should be driving.  Drivers checking social media is the biggest single perceived threat that road users feel, slightly higher than those who text and email, and closely followed by drink and drug drivers. 

There has been a change in the headline issue that drivers think has got worse in the last three years. For the first time congestion has topped the poll. This is a reflection on the upturn in economic activity but also shows that the recent increases in new road investment must be sustained.  A new question on potholes also found that the vast majority of drivers experienced road surface problems in the last year.

Overall attitudes have shifted very little in the last four years.  This underlines the difficult task of changing driver behaviour and attitudes that all those who work in road safety face on a daily basis.  Underlying complacency about hands free phone use is the most worrying element, as well as the small hard core of drivers who seem to think that mixing drink and drugs with driving is acceptable.