Skip to main content

One in ten drivers admit to driving on autopilot

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is urging motorists to beware of the perils of driving on autopilot following research which shows that one in ten drivers are often unable to remember their entire car journey. The poll of almost 1,500 drivers, carried out by Vision Critical on behalf of the IAM, also revealed that 54 per cent of drivers admitted to missing a turning because they were distracted. A further 14 per cent of drivers are quite often unable to recall any part of their journey in the
February 20, 2014 Read time: 1 min
The 6187 Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is urging motorists to beware of the perils of driving on autopilot following research which shows that one in ten drivers are often unable to remember their entire car journey.

The poll of almost 1,500 drivers, carried out by Vision Critical on behalf of the IAM, also revealed that 54 per cent of drivers admitted to missing a turning because they were distracted.  A further 14 per cent of drivers are quite often unable to recall any part of their journey in the car.

Younger drivers (18-25 year olds) are the most likely to be in danger of distraction.  Thirty-five per cent stating they couldn’t recall any part of their journey, often or quite often. In comparison only five per cent of older drivers (65+) admitted to not remembering their journey.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Latest A9 speed camera report ‘shows improvement in driver behaviour’
    July 28, 2015
    The latest performance data for A9 speed camera system has been published by Transport Scotland on behalf of the A9 Safety Group, covering the period May 2015 to July 2015 (incidents are quarter two April to June) as an overall assessment of the performance of the route. The report incorporates the first information in relation to collision and casualty figures covering the period from October 2014 to March 2015, which are reported against the average of the equivalent months in the preceding three year
  • Technology solution needed to counter mobile phone menace
    March 29, 2017
    With the UK set to increase the penalties for using mobile phones while driving, the RAC Foundation’s Steve Gooding considers what else can be done to combat this deadly distraction. The first mobile phone call was made in 1973, by an engineer working for Motorola. Today 4.7 billion people across the globe subscribe to a mobile service.
  • New analysis finds speed cameras may create bad driving behaviour
    October 28, 2015
    Using more than one billion miles of driving behaviour data, collected over three years (2011-2014) and including 8,809 separate journeys in 5,353 vehicles, Wunelli, a LexisNexis company, has revealed the most frequent braking black spots across the UK created by speed cameras, based on motorists braking excessively just before speed cameras to avoid being caught. Eighty per cent of all the UK speed cameras investigated had hard braking activity, with braking increasing six fold on average at these loca
  • Modern day cars are ‘outsmarting their drivers’
    October 23, 2015
    The average UK driver is currently being outsmarted by their own car, according to new research. The survey of 1,000 British car owners, carried out by BookMyGarage.com, found that 73per cent don’t understand how to use all of the high tech gadgets and safety features in their vehicle. This is despite over half of British adults admitting they were sold on the car they bought because of the features it offered.