Private Fleet are in the midst of undertaking a Consumer Attitudes Survey.
It is early days yet, but we’ve already uncovered some fascinating facts and opinions.
Misogynists Among Motorists
One question asked respondents a fairly open opinion on their likes and dislikes. Nearly 80 percent of our respondents so far are male (so ladies, we want your entries too), but of these, nearly twenty percent listed female motorists as their major dislike!
Of particular dislike is the young female P plater.
All comments are given anonymously yet there is a clear trend evident with comments such as
“ Young female drivers seem to drive too fast”
Or
“Young women speed to excess, with scant regard for others”
Or
“Young female drivers, often on P plates tend to be the worst (most aggressive, risk taking, impatient).”
But young females are not the only target of female criticism. Curiously more than one respondent had noted ‘Asian women driving Volvos” as their pet hate.
So does this mean that the Australian motorist is not just a women hater but racist, too? Well, we hope not as it’s early days, and we need a significant sample to confirm these early suspicions, but we’ll keep you posted.
So what other major concerns have been noted to date?
Keeping Left.
A regular criticism is of those drivers who habitually ignore the ‘Keep Left’ signs, hogging the right hand lanes or even the centre lanes of motorways when the inner lanes are vacant, particularly when driving at less than the legal limit.
A typical comment is:-
“Drivers in Australia are a disgrace, including the trucking industry. In Europe and UK the driving is orderly, trucks STAY in the inside lane except when overtaking, then return to the inside lane and you never see them on the outside lane. Cars only overtake on the outside (never on the inside) and do not hog the outside lane. In fact if they see a car approaching in the rear view mirror they move over straight away “
Tailgating
Another frequent comment and criticism is the way cars keep too close to the car in front of them, particularly when being driven by young people.
“ I hate tailgaters” is a common sentiment among respondents.
Other dishonourable mentions go to excess speed, too many speed restrictions/road signs, impatient drivers, elderly drivers and more.
As we said, it’s early days for the survey, which covers other factors, too. So if you haven’t yet completed the survey, why don’t you do so now?
It will only take a minute or two (average completion time is 1m 20 secs), and it will be a valuable contribution towards understanding driver sentiments and motivations.