28.11.2011
Drivers who annoy on the road
- Rating Group was inspired to conduct this study by the results of a reader survey carried out by the American magazine Motor Trend on the most irritating factors on the road. Of course, these studies are different, primarily because of their different methodologies, and therefore they are not directly comparable, but for identifying certain trends such a comparison is possible.
- According to the results of the study by the Sociological Group “Rating”, less than one third of Ukraine’s adult population aged 18 and over drive a car; among them, less than one quarter are active drivers. The remaining respondents (about 70%) do not drive at all. In the structure of Ukrainian drivers, men dominate significantly (over 80%) as well as middle-aged people aged 30–49 (about 50%). By occupation, the largest groups are office employees (23%) and workers (32%), with equal shares of people with higher education (40%) and secondary specialized education (40%).
- Thus, drivers are most irritated on the road by those fellow drivers who cut in front of others (63%), park in a way that obstructs traffic (51%), do not use turn signals when turning or changing lanes (46%), and blind others with high beams at night (42%).
- Drivers are also irritated by those who drive in the middle of the road or between lanes (35%), refuse to let other cars pass (35%), exceed the speed limit (34%), talk on a mobile phone while driving (25%), are aggressive and swear or gesture behind the wheel (24%), and do not turn on red when a green arrow is allowed (22%).
- Ukrainian drivers are much less irritated by slow drivers (13%), drivers who play loud music in their cars (14%), those who drive dirty cars in good weather (9%), smoke while driving (9%), or constantly let other cars go ahead of them (5%). Only 3% of Ukrainian drivers say that nothing and no one irritates them on the road.
- Compared to the results of the Motor Trend survey, American and Ukrainian drivers are equally irritated by drivers who talk on a mobile phone while driving.
- At the same time, Ukrainian drivers are much more irritated by those who cut in, do not use turn signals, and do not turn on red when a green arrow is allowed, and are much less irritated by slow drivers. Thus, the origin and mental roots of the saying “The slower you go, the farther you’ll get” appear quite logical.
- A few more interesting points. Drivers who speed, talk on mobile phones, smoke, and play loud music irritate passengers more than drivers. At the same time, passengers are almost not irritated at all by slow drivers. Passengers are also more than three times less irritated by drivers who cut in front of others. Obviously, passengers simply do not fully understand this problem as such.
Methodology
- Survey population: population of Ukraine aged 18 and older.
- Sample size: 2,000 respondents.
- Method: face-to-face formalized interviews.
- Margin of error (95% confidence):
– near 50%: no more than 2.2%
– near 30%: no more than 2.0%
– near 10%: no more than 1.3%
– near 5%: no more than 1.0% - Fieldwork period: October 25 – November 6, 2011.
- Regional breakdown:
- West: Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi
- Center: Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy
- North: Kyiv city, Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv
- South: Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sevastopol
- East: Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv
- Donbas: Donetsk, Luhansk
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