Women and rural drivers more likely to chat on mobiles behind the wheel

WOMEN are more likely than men to chat on mobile phones while driving, according to a new survey.

In the survey compiled by the Automobile Association (AA), 6.6% of women admitted to illegally conversing daily on handheld mobiles while behind the wheel.

The AA questioned nearly 5,300 motorists from all over the country and found by comparison that 5.6% of men owned up to using mobiles on a daily basis while driving.

A further 17.5% of women and 15.9% of men admitted that they would use the phones on a fairly regular basis while driving.

The survey showed people living in Dublin were least likely to make or receive calls when driving.

About 5% of those questioned in the capital admitted to using the phones behind the wheel on a daily basis, with another 14.5% saying they commonly used them.

A quarter of respondents in Dublin admitted they occasionally did it, while 49.5% said they never did it, or if so it was extremely rare.

In Cork usage was higher, with 6.4% admitting daily calls and 16.2% saying they made calls “somewhat regularly”.

But the highest figure for daily usage — at 7.6% — came from people living in Munster, but outside of Cork.

Common usage in that region was reported at 17.3%.

By comparison daily usage in Leinster — excluding Dublin — was 6.7%, while common usage was 16.9%.

But when it came to common use people living in the west topped the poll by a considerable margin.

A total of 22.4% in Connacht owned up to yapping on a regular basis while driving, while 6% said they did it daily.

The AA’s Conor Faughnan said the survey proved that Ireland “is a nation of phone junkies”.

“Around 80% of drivers reported that they saw others on the phone every day. We all know that we shouldn’t do it. It’s a very silly way to earn penalty points, but we just can’t seem to shake the habit,” Mr Faughnan said.

He said that using the phone while driving is dangerous, and not just because one hand isn’t on the wheel.

“Talking on the phone takes your concentration off the driving situation,” Mr Faughnan said.

He said it wasn’t like listening to the car radio and was proved to make drivers’ reaction times much slower.

Meanwhile, gardaí said that a total of 173,251 speeding offences were detected so far this year.

A Garda spokesman said excessive speed was the greatest contributory factor in road deaths, which stand at 275 so far this year.

“Drivers are urged to slow down and remember that as a general rule a 1km/hr decrease in speed results in a 2% reduction in minor injury collisions, a 3% reduction in serious injury accidents and a 4% reduction in fatal collisions,” the spokesman said.

He added that gardaí are preparing to deploy automatic number plate recognition speed detectors throughout the country in a further effort to reduce accidents.