Driving too slowly, slow to move at roundabouts/junctions, and stalling the car top the list of mistakes made by learner drivers
• 14% of motorists don’t think learner drivers are any worse than average drivers
25 July 2024, Dublin: Driving too slow for the road conditions (41%), pulling away too slowly at roundabouts/junctions (39%), and stalling the car (33%) are the top three most observed mistakes made by learner and novice drivers, according to new research findings. The survey from Aviva Insurance Ireland DAC (Aviva) sought to understand the common mistakes made and observed by those driving behind them and the extent to which motorists make allowance for those displaying L and N plates on their cars.
Other mistakes observed include not moving away when traffic lights turn green (29%), not indicating correctly leaving roundabouts (25%), and poor parking (18%). However, 14% of drivers surveyed don’t believe that learner drivers make any more mistakes than the average driver, while 11% of respondents think that learner drivers make less mistakes as they are paying more attention.
The Aviva survey found that:
- Men were more critical of mistakes made by learner/novice drivers across all the options provided.
- A higher percentage of women 18% (men:10%) did not think learner drivers made any more mistakes than the average driver, with 15% of them (men:7%) saying that they make less mistakes because they pay more attention.
Commenting Mike Kavanagh, Manager, Aviva Driving School said: “Learning to drive can be a daunting experience for most as they try to come to grips with co-ordinating several tasks at once while being in control of a powerful vehicle. The learner must familiarise themselves with the functions in the car and learn to turn the steering wheel, while operating the car’s pedals, indicators and at the same time using the mirrors provided as well as scanning the road ahead.
“Given the myriad of tasks that learner and novice drivers must familiarise themselves with, it is no surprise that they may drive slowly or perhaps take more time to move away at junctions and roundabouts. They must also learn how to do even more challenging tasks like hill starts, reversing around corners, turnabouts or three point turns as they are better known, and parking, particular in narrow parking spaces, most of which the experienced driver takes for granted.”
The Aviva research also sought to understand if motorists made allowances when driving behind learner or novice drivers. The good news is that more than half of respondents (59%) claimed that they leave more distance between their car and the learner driver and 50% say that they have more patience if the driver makes a mistake. More than 2 in 5 (42%) say they slow down. However, 15% of drivers don’t make any allowance or do so only some of the time with 3% of those saying they never notice an N or L plate drivers. Some 1% suggested that they should not be on the road if they can’t drive properly.
Women were more likely to leave more distance between their car and that of the learner driver at 65% than men at 53%, while more women (54%) than men (47%) displayed more patience if the learner driver made a mistake. Those in the older ago cohorts of 45-55+ were also more likely to cut the learner drivers some slack.
Mike Kavanagh continued: “Each and every driver on our roads today had to learn to drive at some stage and we should all remind ourselves how difficult it was at the time. Given that there is significantly more traffic on our roads, it must be even more daunting to drive on public roads as a learner even if you are sitting beside a parent or guardian. And as we can see from our research, learner and novice drivers must also put up with blatant lack of tolerance from a small percentage of motorists, some of whom may be displaying"