THINK! Biennial Survey

6 June 2016

While drink driving remains the key road safety issue that people think the government should address, the proportion who consider it to be dangerous and unacceptable has fallen.

This is one of the findings from the THINK! Biennial Survey, which explores attitudes towards driving, road safety and other road users, and measures awareness of, and attitudes towards, the THINK! brand.

While the vast majority of people agree that it is dangerous and unacceptable to drive when over the legal alcohol limit (or when unsure), the level of agreement has fallen in the 2015 survey. The decline in the numbers viewing it as unacceptable was driven by responses from 17-34 year old motorists.

85% of respondents ‘agreed completely’ that driving when over the limit is dangerous, down 4% from when the survey was last published in 2013.

51% of respondents named drink driving in their top three road safety issues for the government to address (down from 63% in 2013). Following that, 38% named speeding (same as 2013) and 32% named use of mobile phones (down from 37%). Drug driving fell to 20% this year, compared with 28% in 2013.

The survey says these reductions may be in part due to the inclusion of an additional option in the 2015 survey, ‘driving too fast for the conditions’, which was named in the top three by 18% of respondents.

Cycling safety continues to increase in importance (up to 15% from 10%) and is now seventh in the list of most important road safety issues behind drink driving, speeding, use of mobile phones, careless driving, drug driving and driving too fast for the conditions.

In line with cycling gaining in importance, the proportion saying they look out for cyclists in their mirrors at junctions has increased (up to 35% from 30%). More worryingly, however, the proportions saying they look out for motorcyclists (down to 21% from 30%) and pedestrians (down to 40% from 47%) has declined.