PRESS RELEASE
7 APRIL 2017
THE VINCI AUTOROUTES FOUNDATION RELEASES RESULTS OF 4TH EUROPEAN
RESPONSIBLE DRIVING BAROMETER SURVEY
European drivers aware that
inattentiveness kills but still unable
to give up distractions at the wheel
The VINCI Autoroutes Foundation has released the results of its 2017 European Responsible Driving Barometer
survey. Conducted by IPSOS on a sample of 12,429 European in 11 European Union countries, this vast
survey provides a snapshot of European drivers’ behaviour. It identifies risky behaviour and best practices
to help direct road safety messages in each country.
Europeans remain fatalistic about road fatalities
While the aim of the European Commission is to halve the number
of road fatalities between 2010 and 2020, the number of deaths
on European roads has only dropped by 19% in the past six years(1).
In 2017, more than 1 out of every 2 Europeans (51%) feel
that it will be difficult to make any significant further reduction in the number of people killed on the road. Hope of
seeing the number of deaths drop in the coming years has worsened in Spain (down 9 points) and Poland (down 8 points). Conversely, confidence has risen in 2017 among Greeks (up 8 points),
Italians (up 5 points) and Belgians (up 6 points); moreover, at
62%, the latter are the most optimistic among Europeans.
The widespread use of connected devices while driving would seem
to contradict the awareness of the risk of driver inattention
c Inattentiveness is now seen by Europeans as the main cause European driver behaviour:
of road accidents in general ahead of driving under the influ- 43% telephone using Bluetooth (up to 52% in Italy but 31% in
ence of alcohol or drugs: 57% (up 5 points) of European and up to the United Kingdom)
39% adjust their GPS (up to 50% in Germany but 29% in Spain)
32% telephone without a hands-free kit (up to 54% in
or smartphone or adjust their GPS. Seemingly, drivers are inca- Greece but 14% in the United Kingdom)
pable of doing without these everyday devices thereby increasing 31% telephone using an earbud, headset or headphones
risky behaviour because of the distraction they cause(2). Nonethe- (up to 49% in Greece but 16% in France)
24% write and/or read texts or emails (up to 32% in Italy but
less, this behaviour does vary from country to country.
16% in the Netherlands).
75% of drivers in the Netherlands have identified this risk.
c Yet, while driving, many Europeans still use their telephone
(1) Year 2016 road safety statistics – European Commission.
(2) At 130 km/h, braking distance in response to an event is on average 100 metres more (33%) when the driver is engaged in a phone conversation –Ci2N study by Strasbourg University
for the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation, 2014.
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Danger and rudeness are always the fault of others:
Europeans more readily criticise others than themselves
c
80% of Europeans admit they have been afraid of another driver’s road rage, especially drivers in France and Slovakia
(86%), but less so drivers in the Netherlands (65%).
c Europeans are very critical of their compatriots: 83% use
at least one negative adjective to describe others’ driving: “irresponsible” for 45% of Europeans (up to 65% of Poles), “stressed”
for 36% (up to 63% of Swedes), “aggressive” for 33% (up to 42%
of British), or even “dangerous” for 26% (up to 39% of French).
c Conversely, they are less critical of their own driving as 97%
of Europeans use at least one positive word to describe their
driving. Europeans above all believe they are “cautious” (74%
and up to 80% in Italy and Greece), “calm” (54% and up to 66% in
the Netherlands) and even “courteous” (up to 48% of British drivers). Far fewer drivers lay blame at their own feet: only 14% of
European and up to 18% of French drivers use a negative adjective to describe their attitude. Still, 10% admit they are “stressed”
when driving (up to 13% of French and British drivers), or even
aggressive (3% and up to 5% in the United Kingdom). Just 1%
says they are irresponsible or dangerous drivers.
c
54% of Europeans and up to 73% of Greeks but only 27%
of Swedes admit they swear at other drivers. Also, 46% of
Europeans admit they sometimes sound their horn excessively
at a driver who annoys them (very prevalent in Spain with 60%),
tailgate drivers who annoy them (31%) or overtake on the inside lane on the motorway (31%). Even 15% say they get out of
their vehicle to argue with another driver; a practice that is most
widespread in Poland (26%) and Italy (25%).
Europeans asked to rank countries according
to their perception of driver responsibility
c The Swedish are perceived to be the most responsible
drivers in Europeans’ eyes: 38% believe they are the most re-
sponsible drivers in Europe. This perception is borne out by the
country’s accident rate: (27 fatalities per million people compared with 50 for the European average(3). They are followed by
the Germans, Dutch and the British in fourth place.
c At the opposite end of the scale, the Italians are considered
to be the least responsible drivers in Europe, a feeling shared
by 27% of Europeans. They are followed by the Greeks (18%) and
Poles (16%). The French tie for fourth position with the Spanish
(8%). Moreover, these five countries rank themselves among the
least responsible drivers.
(3) 2016 road safety statistics – European Commission.
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Many basic safety rules are insufficiently applied by many European drivers
c Speeding: 89% of European drivers and up to 93% of Swedes
admit they exceed the speed limit by a few kilometres, even
though they believe speeding is one of the main causes of road
(42%) and motorway (44%) fatalities.
c Keeping a safe distance: 63% of European and even 76%
of French drivers fail to stay a safe distance behind the vehicle
ahead.
c Indicating: 55% of European drivers forget to indicate when
overtaking or turning. Non-compliance with this essential rule
for ensuring good communication between drivers is particularly
widespread in in France and Italy (60%).
c Motorway driving: 54% of European drivers admit they stay
in the centre lane even though the inside lane is free and more
than one out of 10 (11%) use the emergency lane despite it being exclusively reserved for emergency vehicles and emergency
stopping.
c Slowing down around worksites: 53% of European and up
to 65% of Belgian drivers forget to slow down around worksites
despite the potential risk for road workers.
c Seat belts: 21% of European drivers still fail to buckle up when
driving. Even if the French are the most likely to follow this rule,
still one out of 10 fail to do so(4). The Greeks are the worst offenders where failure to use a seat belt is concerned (47%).
c Drink driving: 11% of European drivers say they sometimes
drive over the limit. This practice is most widespread in Greece
(28%), Belgium (26%) and France (17%), but much less so in
Sweden and Slovakia (3%), the United Kingdom and Poland (4%).
This behaviour is confirmed by the results for the question about
the number of drinks after which drivers decide not to get behind
the wheel: 2 drinks on average for European drivers, but 2.8 for
Greek, 2.7 for Belgian and 2.5 for French drivers compared with
1.2 for Swedish, 1.3 for Polish and Slovak, and 1.5 for British drivers.
c Drugs: 2% of European drivers admit to having driven after
smoking cannabis; however this habit concerns 5.2% of men under 35 years-old.
(4) On motorways, 25% of people killed in a light vehicle were not wearing a seat belt – ASFA: 2015 Fatality Review.
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Focus on driver drowsiness
Best practices to be encouraged
DROWSINESS, NEAR-ACCIDENTS
AND ACCIDENTS
38 % of European drivers identify
drowsiness as one of the main causes
of motorway fatalities, and 8% for road
fatalities in general. In France, drowsiness
is even quoted as the main cause of motorway fatalities (53%). This reflects the
high level of awareness French drivers
have about this issue since it is indeed the
leading factor in motorway fatalities(5).
Also, 25% of European and up to 33% of
French drivers feel they may have dozed
off for a few seconds while driving. 14% of
the respondents admit they have drifted
into the emergency lane or onto the hard
shoulder during a moment of inattentiveness or when dozing off; this figures
reaches 25% for French drivers. Yet, 41%
of European and up to 51% of German
drivers admit they have got behind the
wheel because they had to even though
they felt very tired.
SLEEP DEBT AND DRIVING TIME
While 71% of European drivers believe it
is ill-advised to drive when tired, far too
many still do (36%). They suffer from
chronic sleep debt: 18% of Europeans
sleep six hours or less on weeknights,
whereas they sleep longer according to
their bodies’ needs on weekends and
when on holiday; and/or from an occasional lack of sleep, especially the night
before setting off on a long car trip (81%
go to bed later or get up earlier than usu-
al, and 76% finish getting ready into the
small hours the night before a departure.
This lack of sleep is compounded by
travel times that are still too long, as
breaks are taken on average every 3 hours
14 minutes by European drivers, that is
8 minutes more than in 2016, and up to
4 hours 2 minutes for Poles, but 2 hours
46 minutes for Dutch drivers and 2 hours
48 minutes for French drivers. Only 26%
of Europeans comply with the recommended two-hourly break.
SOME GOOD PRACTICES
TO PREVENT DRIVER DROWSINESS
ARE BEGINNING TO TAKE HOLD
Even though certain misconceptions
about how to combat drowsiness persist
(81% of European drivers think they can
ward of fatigue by talking to a passenger,
61% by listening to music or the radio
and 59% by opening the window), good
reflexes during long journeys need to be
recognised.
For example:
60% (4% more than 2016) of European
and up to 84% of Belgian drivers break
long trips to take a nap
84% of European and up to 94% of Greek
drivers schedule their departure time for
long trips to take into account the time
when their level of tiredness is at the lowest
73% (3% more than in 2016) of European
and up to 79% of Swedish drivers swap
drivers on long trips.
For this reason, on the eve of the spring break, the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation for Responsible
Driving is reminding drivers of these few simple rules to limit the risk of driver drowsiness,
which remains the leading cause of motorway fatalities:
c Get a full night’s sleep the night before setting off
c Avoid travelling at night (between 10.00 pm and 6.00 am)
c Stop for regular breaks on long trips, at least every two hours
c Stop on a rest area as soon as the first signs of fatigue appear and take a short nap
c Remember to swap drivers regularly.
(5) ASFA: 2015 Fatality Review
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Method
For this Barometer of Europeans driving habits, Ipsos carried out an Internet survey between 11 January
and 10 February 2017, on a sample of over 12,429 Europeans from 15 years old and above including at
least 1 000 respondents in each country. The quota method was used to ensure the representativeness
of each national sample.
About the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation for Responsible Driving
Created in February 2011, the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation for Responsible Driving is a laboratory,
observatory and source of information specifically focused on improving road safety. It aims to help
bring about changes in driver behaviour and to encourage drivers to contribute to their own safety and to that of other road users. Its actions include: information campaigns to raise awareness
of road risks; funding for innovative scientific research in certain areas of risky driver behaviour that
have not been sufficiently explored or are poorly identified by road users; and finally to fund initiatives by non-profit associations or citizen initiatives aimed at encouraging responsible driving.
http://fondation.vinci-autoroutes.com (In French only) and http://roulons-autrement.com
PRESS CONTACTS:
Estelle Ferron, tel.: +33 (0)6 34 99 33 61, [email protected]
Ludovica Giobbe, tel.: +33 (0)6 15 33 64 30, [email protected]
VINCI Autoroutes Foundation for Responsible Driving
12 rue Louis Blériot - 92500 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex - France
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