43% of distracted drivers have admitted to making a mistake due to talking to passengers, with 37% admitting that daydreaming caused them to make a mistake, according to a survey by the RAC
Of the 2,691 drivers surveyed by the RAC, 63% said they had made a mistake while driving due to distractions.
Mistakes included speeding, ending up in the wrong lane, missing a turn, or nearly having a collision.
Other causes of mistakes included looking at something outside the car (33%), interacting with the car’s touchscreen (26%), and adjusting car controls through knobs and buttons (21%).
When asked what they thought the biggest causes of distracted driving were, 46% of respondents said talking on the phone, despite only 8% of distracted drivers saying they had made a mistake due to this.
However, when only considering 17 to 24-year-olds, the number rises to 23%, while the majority (55%) of under-25s surveyed admitted to making handheld phone calls while driving.
Younger drivers are also disproportionately distracted by eating and drinking, with 18% of 17 to 24-year-olds admitting to mistakes caused by eating and drinking behind the wheel, while the number for all age groups was 8%.
Distractions caused by smoking or vaping were more of an issue in under-25s too, at 11%, compared to 3% for all ages.
Shaving, or applying make-up, was also deemed to be highly distracting (42%), however only 2% of drivers reported that this had caused them to make a mistake, while 6% had made mistakes while picking up a dropped item, despite 35% citing it as the biggest distraction while driving.
Rod Dennis, road safety spokesperson for the RAC, said: “Talking to passengers or daydreaming are so common that they aren’t perceived by drivers to be big distractions, but our research has revealed they are in fact responsible for most of the errors drivers admit to, whether that’s missing a turning, exceeding the speed limit or ending up in the wrong lane.
“While dropping an item or applying make-up are clearly extremely distracting and dangerous, they’re fortunately far less common than every-day things like talking to another passenger, an interfering thought or spotting something interesting outside the vehicle.”
Government data showed that 940 people were killed or seriously injured due to in-car distractions in 2023, while 280 were killed or seriously injured due to the driver being distracted by things outside the car.
Dennis added: “The practice of driving is second nature for many of us, but our research suggests things we do without thinking in the car have far more potential to cause us to make errors than we might realise.
“Driving is still a very mentally demanding task, especially as we need to be able to react to what’s in front in a split-second, so it’s important we do everything we can to stay alert and minimise distractions.”
