Annual survey measures attitudes towards mobiles, cameras and road safety

12.00 | 2 February 2017 |

39% of respondents to an annual Government survey believe that drivers should be banned from using all mobile phones, including hands-free sets.

Published on 27 January, the British Social Attitudes Survey for 2015 does however show that there are 10% who still believe that the use of hand-held mobiles while driving isn’t dangerous. 48% of respondents agreed that all mobile phones are dangerous.

The Government has been conducting the survey which measures people’s attitudes to transport since 1996.

In terms of speed cameras, the survey results show that nearly half of respondents think speed cameras are mostly there to make money, with 33% saying there are too many of them. However, the DfT points out that the number of respondents agreeing with these statements has fallen to its lowest level in the last decade.

Shifting the focus onto traffic calming measures, while those aged 65 years or older are most
likely to support closing residential streets to through traffic, or introducing 20mph zones, support for speed bumps declines progressively with age.

The report scopes wider than just road safety, with a focus on travel behaviours and willingness to change mode of travel. For journeys of less than two miles travelled by car, 44% of respondents said they could just as easily walk, cycle (39%) or take the bus (31%).

That said, 64% of respondents agreed that it is too dangerous for them to cycle on the road, the same level as in 2014. Women, non-cyclists and older age groups showed higher levels
of cycling safety concerns, while male respondents said they were more likely to switch to cycling for short journeys.

The report also canvassed respondents’ views on congestion and exhaust fumes. 37% considered congestion on motorways to be a serious problem, compared with a low of 22% in 2011; while 60% considered exhaust fumes in towns to be a serious problem, up from a low of 44% in 2012. 74% of respondents said that when they next purchase a car, they would be willing to buy one with lower CO2 emissions.


 

Comments

Comment on this story

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close