The surge of coronavirus caused an unparalleled amount of lockdown measures across the world during 2020 and early 2021, which caused drivers across the UK to limit their travel. However, as things slowly begin easing, statistics now show motorists are finding it challenging to get back on the road again.
Being off road during the pandemic has caused a lot of shifts in driving habits. Statistics suggest that the average number of miles has been driven down from 583 miles per month to 90 miles over the past month. What’s more is that the highest amount of errors made by UK motorists during lockdown are stalling (28%), finding difficulty in parallel parking and forgetting to indicate (21%).
A fifth of motorists have struggled to get to grips with driving again since being off the road during lockdown. Around 18% say they have struggled to get back to normal behind the wheel of a car. To strengthen this point, Hyundai carried out a survey revealing almost half (48%) of motorists are concerned that the standard of road users’ driving will be worse now that the restrictions have started to be lifted. A point to note is that anxiety can lead to a disorientation, which causes lack of awareness of a road, which in turn, leads to accidents.
Moreover, four in ten motorists said they hadn’t visited a filling station over the past 28 days, with 12% suggesting that they had forgotten which side or end they filled up or charged their car. On top of this, almost half of motorists are concerned that the standard of road users’ driving will be worse now restrictions have been lifted despite one third of the drivers surveyed said they had been driving more cautiously since the start of the pandemic. Here at Atha & Co, we care about drivers staying safe out on the road. We understand there are tough times in the world at the moment and the pandemic has left even the calmest motorists nervous. We strongly urge motorists to take extra care!
Charles Atha of Atha & Co Solicitors, Middlesbrough said “we are as delighted as everyone else that some normality is being resumed, tho we encourage drivers to be extra careful when they get back behind the wheel of their car… In the event that you might be unfortunate enough to have an accident that was caused by someone else then Choose the One You Know.. Atha & Co”.