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'Over a third (36%) of British motorists have taken their hand off the wheel to use the touch screen on their satnav and one in five (20%) admit they had strayed to smoking whilst driving'.
They're the results of insurance firm esure's latest road safety survey, carried out by scientists at the University of Leeds.
What struck me about these figures was how low they are. Does this really mean that 64% of drivers pull over every time they want to adjust their satnav, and 80% do not smoke behind the wheel because they think it's unsafe to do so - therefore either stopping for a cigarette or not smoking at all while travelling?
I'm not disputing the figures but my guess is that many people who responded to these questions either did not have a satnav or do not smoke. Otherwise, I'm sure I'm not the only person who would like to meet this vast population of drivers that epitomises best practice in safe driving.
You may feel this attitude is cynical coming from a road safety professional, but I'm afraid I'm a realist. If that many people stopped their vehicles rather than take their hand off the wheel, our laybys and parking areas would have queues of drivers waiting to pull in so that they could alter their route or have a quick smoke.
Yet the danger of statistics like these is that we begin to pat ourselves on the back and celebrate the vast majority of very safe drivers on our roads, which can have the effect of giving people ammunition to say that we really don't have a problem in the UK.
Likewise, I am not a fan of the sensational headlines produced by some road safety organisations to try and shock us into taking action against items such as drink driving, drugs and driving, driving while tired, speeding and so on. These also have the negative impact in my view of disengaging the population with the importance of safe driving.
I reiterate that I'm not doubting the credibility of whats been reported, as I'm sure the statistics are correct. However, as with all studies, I'm sure there is more behind the numbers than meets the eye, and on this occasion I'd be very interested to know how many actual satnav users pull over every time they want to touch its screen and how many smokers pull over for a cigarette.
If anyone from esure or Leeds University would like to clarify that I'll be delighted if they prove me wrong.
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