New research on driving stress for Toyota Hybrid has found that 17.30pm is officially the most stressful time to drive on Irish roads with one in five saying that they feel most anxious behind the wheel at this time. 

A majority of 55% of Irish people admitted to feeling stressed up to four times per week while driving.

This research was conducted in tandem with the release of findings from ‘The Hybrid Experiment’ conducted by i2 research which found that over 80% per cent of people felt less angry, frustrated and stressed and more happy and calm in a hybrid car relative to a non-hybrid car.

The Hybrid Experiment was commissioned by Toyota Europe and aimed to investigate the effect of different powertrains – hybrid, petrol, diesel – on the driver experience. Rome, Italy, renowned for its stressful and challenging driving conditions, was chosen as the setting for the experiment. Significantly lower levels of stress were recorded by all participants after driving a Toyota Hybrid through traffic than a non-Hybrid.


17.30pm is officially the most stressful for Irish drivers, with one in five listing this as the point in the day at which they feel most anxious behind the wheel.  When asked what was getting them riled, respondents listed: other motorists pulling out and switching lanes without looking (72%), other road users cutting them off (44%) and rudeness from other motorists including offensive hand signals or verbal insults (37%). Finally, cyclists not observing the rules of the road (36%) and pedestrians not observing the rules of the road (24%) were major irritants for Irish drivers.

30% of Irish people have experienced road rage once or twice in their lifetimes which broadly equalled the number of people claiming they had been victims of other drivers’ road rage (34%).

When asked if they had ever lost their temper towards their follow road users, 42% admitted to having driven deliberately slowly in front of another car, while 32% owned up to having gesticulated rudely to another road user.  Others’ bad behaviour of choice was tailgating (18%), with a relatively low 5% of Irish people admitting to have deliberately cut in front of another driver.

Marketing Director at Toyota Ireland, Michael Gaynor said: “What is clear from our research is that Irish people are not enjoying the experience of driving as much as they should be. While we can’t control the weather, calm rush hour traffic or silence backseat drivers, we can ensure people a smooth and relaxing drive in a Toyota hybrid.

He added: Recent research conducted for Toyota showed that hybrid drivers reported feeling less frustrated, less stressed, happier and calmer driving a hybrid. We’re encouraging people to experience the difference for themselves by taking a test drive in one of our hybrids to feel the joy of driving once again.”

Toyota recently launched the dynamic 2015 Auris Hybrid. Auris Hybrid offers a remarkably quiet, smooth and relaxed driving experience and is ideal for driving in the city or in the countryside.

The 2015 Yaris Hybrid also has a distinctive new look and specification upgrades and is now equipped as standard with a state of the art multimedia system, Bluetooth and driver assistance technologies.