RAA reveals South Aussies’ biggest driving pet peeves

The results are in – people with these driving practices are officially the most likely to be at the receiving end of bird flippings. Are you guilty?

Tailgating, hogging the road and refusing to indicate are the most hated driving practices, an RAA survey has found.

The RAA surveyed 5584 member-drivers and found more than one quarter, 27 per cent, said they were most annoyed by people driving dangerously close behind them.

The behaviour easily eclipsed the second most annoying habit; failing to keep left unless overtaking, 17 per cent, and third; failing to indicate, 14 per cent.

RAA Senior Manager of Safety and Infrastructure Charles Mountain said other drivers’ bad behaviour was a hot topic among motorists.

“There are many rule-breaking behaviours that people find annoying, and not surprisingly our poll shows tailgating is high among them,’’ he said.

“Indicating is a simple driving task and an important one for safety’s sake but failing to do so draws the ire of many motorists. It’s important to indicate for long enough so that traffic in the adjacent lane knows what you intend to do.

“All these traffic offences can also lead to situations in which other drivers can become enraged and end up making poor decisions as well.

“We obviously need to do more work in helping drivers understand all the road rules and how they work.”

These bad driving habits could also create a serious safety risk, Mr Mountain warned.

“They can also result in a costly fine and loss of demerit points,’’ he said.

Tailgating on the South Eastern Freeway in a 100km/h zone.

Motorists are also annoyed by people speeding up in overtaking lanes zones when not overtaking, 12 per cent, failing to merge properly, 9 per cent, and using a mobile phone 7 per cent.

But police are also cracking down on the most dangerous of annoying habits. Latest figures show more than 5000 motorists have been pulled over by police for tailgating – resulting in $1.32 million worth of fines – during the past two financial years.

In the same period police figures show 1347 drivers were caught failing to keep left unless overtaking, resulting in 995 cautions and 352 fines worth $124,385.

Meanwhile an Adelaide University study of crashes involving serious injury during 2014-15 has found substance use was involved in a large proportion of hospital admission and fatal injury crashes.

A direct contribution to fatal crashes of substance use was found in 36 per cent of cases.

For crashes in which substance use potentially contributed to the crash, illicit drugs were most common 23 per cent, followed by an illegal blood alcohol level, 20 per cent, and then medication, 13 per cent. In 20 per cent of crashes, more than one substance, drinking/illicit drug/medication) was present.