London, England - Only sixty percent of drivers concentrate when they are behind the wheel, according to a research by the UK Institute of Advanced Motorists.
However, there is good and bad news in these findings.
The good news is that older drivers are much less likely to lose concentration while driving. Seventy-three percent of over 65 year-olds polled in a survey by Vision Critical of 1447 drivers said they concentrated on the road all of the time while driving, and another 26 percent said they concentrated most of the time.
The bad news is that 50 percent of younger drivers aged 18-24 admitted to not concentrating on driving all the time and, not far behind, 47 percent of 24-34 year-olds admitted to not concentrating.
SIMPLY DAYDREAMING
Nearly a quarter of drivers (24 percent) said that simply daydreaming was the most common reason for not concentrating - and among 18-24 year-olds that figure was 30 per cent.
Other reasons given for not concentrating included stress (22 percent), thinking about what you will be doing when you arrive (21 percent) and thinking about family, friends and personal relationships (21 percent).
RARELY ADMITTED
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “Signs of not concentrating such as missed turnings or uncancelled indicators are commonplace. Simply not concentrating is a key cause of crashes yet it's not borne out in statistics because drivers rarely admit to it in police reports or on insurance forms.”
“These results re-confirm stereotypes surrounding younger drivers and the ease with which they can be distracted away from safe driving.
“The key is to build up as wide a range of experiences as possible as you learn and to see driving as a skill that needs continuous improvement.”