Return of Road Trips Worry Drivers
Summer is a blink away, and that means the return of the road trip!
Although there is plenty of excitement around on-the-road getaways, a new survey reveals there is also a fair amount of trepidation as drivers embrace the open road.
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Erie Insurance conducted a national survey and discovered that more than half of the survey’s participants are considering a road trip this year. It also revealed that drivers have a range of worries pertaining to other drivers as well as themselves when thinking about a road trip.
Some notable concerns included distracted driving habits such as using social media behind the wheel, the mileage of the road trip that may tax the attention of drivers, and if drivers would push speed to unsafe limits. Vehicle maintenance, often neglected during the pandemic, also weighed on the minds of those surveyed.
Personal driving concerns
When looking inward, 72 percent of the survey respondents cited their tendency to speed. Drowsy driving was a confession of approximately 62 percent while seven percent admitted to actually falling asleep at the wheel, a scary and dangerous statistic. The tendency to fall asleep at the wheel spiked in drivers aged 25-44, with 13 percent admitting to the worrisome habit.
Concerns caused by other drivers
When asked to evaluate what makes respondents most nervous about other drivers, half claimed distracted driving habits resulting from texting or talking on the phone. This was the top concern with road rage tallied as a worry for 18 percent of the survey participants. With four percentage points less, speeding came in third place with tailgating earning the fourth top worry with 12 percent. The number five concern drivers had about sharing the road with other drivers was failing to yield. Three percent of the survey respondents worried about it.
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Finally, vehicle maintenance, or the lack thereof, ranked as a concern for one in five drivers. They said the reason for the neglect was due to the pandemic.
DeAnn Owens is a Dayton transplant by way of the Windy City, yet considers herself to be a California girl at heart even though she’s only visited there once. To get through the dreaded allergy season unique to the Miami Valley, she reads, writes, complains about the weather, and enjoys spending time with her husband, two sons, and their newest addition, a Boston terrier puppy that is now in charge of all their lives. In the future, she hopes to write a novel and travel through time. See more articles by DeAnn.