By Mike Davey
Toronto, Ontario — August 18, 2015 — Many Canadians are engaging in behaviour behind the wheel that could lead to an increased risk of collisions. The results of a new survey released by Kanetix.ca show that more than 75 percent of Canadians admit to bad driving behavior. Speeding is the most commonly confessed bad habit.
“While our study shows that most of us are guilty of bad driving behaviours, what’s particularly interesting is the consequences of this aggression,” says Janine White, Vice President, Marketplaces at Kanetix.ca “Receiving a ticket, getting into a collision, or worse – all which inevitably lead to car insurance hikes, is risky and costly, and just not worth it in the end.”
Over half (58 percent) of the drivers surveyed confessed to speeding. This is actually down by about two percent from 2012, when Kanetix.ca first conducted this study. It might be worth noting that the margin of error for this sample size is plus or minus 2.5 percent.
The next most common bad habit is using profanity out of frustration with traffic or delays (31 percent), with following too closely behind other vehicles (22 percent) coming in third.
Displaying hostile hand gestures towards other drivers is also a common badbehavior, along with yelling at another driver (19 percent). Drivers also admit to: cutting people off (13 percent); weaving in and out of traffic (8 percent); honking excessively at other drivers (7 percent), and chasing or tailgating other drivers (7 percent)
Provincial Breakdown:
• Eighty per cent of Albertans admit to bad driving behaviour, with two-thirds saying they speed
• Ontarians are the same – eight in 10 admit to bad driving behaviour, again, speeding is the most common
• Quebec residents are the least likely to admit to any bad driving habits (68 per cent vs. 79 per cent for the rest of Canada,). Twenty-five per cent of Quebec drivers claim they are a perfect driver.
While Canadians show marginal improvements, bad driving behaviours remain largely unchanged from three years ago. The only habit that saw a significant drop was the use of profanity out of frustration with traffic or delays, which fell from 39 per cent to 31 per cent, an interesting observation considering traffic congestion is generally increasing across Canada.
