Research conducted by Liberty Insurance has revealed new insights into road safety behaviour.

The research was commissioned for the launch of its ‘DriveSafer’ campaign and encourages people to "Take Action, Avoid the Distraction" ahead of the May Bank Holiday weekend. The research carried out by Millward Brown revealed that whilst just 3% of drivers rate themselves as unsafe, almost half (46%) admit to engaging in distracting activities when driving. 56% of respondents said they would consider themselves to be as safe as most drivers, and 41% would consider themselves safer than the majority of drivers.

The Liberty Insurance research revealed 13% stated they engaged in digital
distractions including texting, checking emails and talking on their mobile. Eating while driving, was cited by 9% of respondents, with more men (11%) partaking in this activity than women (7%).


Taking/placing calls while driving was cited by 7% of drivers in the Liberty Insurance research as an activity they had partaken in the day before. Talking on the phone while driving was higher among men (9%) than women (6%), Additional digital distractions drivers admitted to executing included sending or reading a text message at 4%, using Map Apps at 3%, with checking emails, posting on Facebook/Twitter and checking a traffic report from their phone, all at 1% respectively.

36% of respondents said that they have changed a channel on the radio, a lower level distraction, but the most common distracting activity carried out while behind the wheel. The biggest culprits for this were 17-34 year olds and young families, at 41% each.

Last week marked the launch of a nationwide campaign by An Garda Siochána
against people using mobile phones while driving and from May 1st 2014, it will be an offence to read or send a text while driving. Nearly 10,000 drivers were detected holding a mobile phone whilst driving this year and in May 2013, 2,335 fixed charged notices issued for using mobile phones while driving.

The research also revealed the activities of other drivers that warrant the most negative attention which include; speeding, poor parking, Sunday drivers, lack of courtesy when failing to let others pull out and switching lanes at the last minute. These results suggest that whilst Irish people are happy to highlight the flaws of other drivers they fail to recognise some of their own bad driving habits.

Annette Ni Dhathlaoi, Head of Marketing, Liberty Insurance said; "Our research has revealed some very interesting insights into the driving habits of the Irish public. Whilst almost half of people surveyed stated that they carry out distracting activities while driving, just 3% would consider themselves to be an unsafe driver. Liberty Insurance is encouraging drivers to take action and avoid these distractions and inviting people to share their ‘DriveSafer’ tips via Twitter and the Liberty Insurance Facebook page.