REVEALED: Shock amount of time British drivers are failing to keep their eyes on the road
MOTORISTS are failing to keep their eyes on the road for long stretches of their journeys, a study by car giant Peugeot revealed today.
It showed that on a one hour journey through town at 30mph most drivers get distracted for a total of four minutes or the equivalent of two miles.
The car maker gave several volunteers special glasses which tracked what they were looking at.
It then got them to drive on 25 identical six-mile journeys covering different roads, speed limits and conditions in a variety of compact SUVs.
The glasses revealed that motorists only look at the road 93 per cent of the time - and look away for the remaining 7 per cent of the journey.
This means that over an hour at 30mph they cover about 3,700 yards or the length of nearly 32 football pitches without actually looking where they are going.
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it’s easy to see how the average driver could be in control of a car yet not be looking at the road for over 3,350 metres in a one hour journey
They get distracted by phone calls, looking at the dashboard, chatting to passengers, changing radio channels, passing sights or using the telephone.
But when the volunteers drove Peugeots fitted with the brand’s i-Cockpit® system which has a smaller steering wheel and raised instrument panel they kept their eyes on the road 95 per cent of the time.
The system has the speedometer in the driver’s eyeline which meant users were three times more likely to check their speed than in cars without the kit.
In 2016, out of 1,445 fatal crashes in Britain that resulted in one or more deaths, the police recorded 397 incidences of the contributory factor of “failure to look”.
They also recorded a further 140 incidences of the contributory factors of distractions inside and outside the vehicle and phone use.
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Peugeot UK Managing Director, David Peel, said: “We all know the dangers of taking your eyes off the road, whether to adjust the radio or the temperature in the car.
“When you add the continued distraction of mobile phones, talking to passengers, something catching your eye outside the car and even eating or drinking a coffee, it’s easy to see how the average driver could be in control of a car yet not be looking at the road for over 3,350 metres in a one hour journey.
“As the data shows, the i-Cockpit® system helps reduce the need for drivers to look away from the road, and by default enhance driving safety.
“Having all the critical information within their field of vision enables more information to be read easily and quickly.
“Importantly though, these findings highlight that we – the drivers – still need to play our part in road safety.”
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said the study highlights the perils of distractions for drivers.
He said: “The number of distractions drivers are faced with both inside and outside of the car is growing but we all need to resist the temptation to look.
Driving is a full-time job and enjoying the countryside or fiddling with the air conditioning is best done by the passenger not the person behind the wheel.”
