Car insurance provider reveals roadside distractions

Monday, November 21, 2005

Car insurance provider Privilege has released some interesting information on the amount of accidents that are caused by exterior roadside distractions.

The company, that also specialises in home insurance, found that a worrying 32 per cent of drivers say they are distracted at the wheel by things such as billboards and Christmas decorations.

"Drivers' visual workload varies through the course of a journey, and at crucial times - negotiating a difficult roundabout, for example, there is a small but significant risk of distraction from novel stimuli like advertising," said Dr Mark Young, an expert in transport ergonomics at Brunel University.

"In fact, this risk is probably underestimated and we need to do more research on the possibility of excluding non-essential information when the driver is already busy dealing with the road."

The results of the Privilege insurance research also show that men are more susceptible to distractive advertising than women, with 22 per cent of males admitting to the car insurance provider that they were distracted by scantily-clad women on adverts, whereas only 11 per cent said the same about semi-naked male models.

"It appears that the development of new technologies, products and advertising techniques is getting in the way of road safety," said Ian Parker, managing director of Privilege.