‘Attractive pedestrians’ blamed for car crashes

The Institute of Advanced Motoristssaid 9% of drivers they surveyed admitted to crashing their cars because they were distracted. 4% said that someone was injured in the crash.

At 11%, men are nearly twice as likely to crash because of a distraction than women (6%).

The IAM/Vision Critical survey, which polled nearly 1,500 regular UK drivers aged 18 years and over, also found that of the 500 divers who admitted to having a near miss, almost one in five (18%) then went on have a crash.

The most common distractions are children in the car (29%), changing the radio channel (27%), back seat drivers (26%), mobile phone use (24%) and sat nav use (15%).

14% of drivers said “attractive pedestrians, drivers or passengers” had distracted them.

The most crash-prone drivers come from London and the South East, where 14% of drivers admitted to distraction crashes.

The lowest crash rates are in Wales (3%), Yorkshire and Humber (4%) and South West England (5%),

IAMchief executive Simon Best said: “If you think you can multitask and drive then think again. Using mobile phones and other distractions were a factor in more than one hundred deaths on our roads last year, every one of them avoidable.”