Drive with Care for Cheaper Car Insurance
Recent research using a driving simulator shows some surprising results as far as eating and drinking whilst at the wheel are concerned. Could you really be driving without due care and attention?
The advice from insurance companies is clear. Keep the consumption of food and drink until such a time as your car is safely parked. This will ensure that there is no question of you being accused of driving without due care and attention and also ensure our roads are as safe as can be for other road users and pedestrians.
The reason for this advice is the result of a study commissioned by a well-known insurance company. It unearthed some interesting facts:
- Eating and drinking whilst driving a car is very common - 75% of drivers confess to the habit.
- Although banned, following accidents for which their use was blamed, hand held mobiles are still used by over 30% of drivers.
- The risk factor in eating and drinking whilst driving is equal to that of sneezing or putting on a seatbelt whilst travelling.
- Drivers who consume food or drink whilst at the wheel double their risk of an accident.
Simply slowing down and driving with more care when eating and drinking is not enough to avoid the risk of a collision. Although most people would think nothing of eating or drinking "en-route", the very act of eating from a pack of sweets and drinking from a bottle of water affected drivers' mental workload in the same way as that of using a hand-held mobile phone.
As part of the research, drivers taking part in the survey were requested to drive, using an "urban route" on a driving simulator. First the route was followed in a straightforward manner, neither eating nor drinking and then it was repeated, whilst eating a sweets or drinking from a bottle of water. Twice during this procedure a "pedestrian" stepped out onto the road. During the food and drink part of the trial, the number of accidents doubled and 90% of them occurred exactly at the time the driver was distracted by eating sweets or sipping the drink.