A new survey looking at drivers and their parents said 66% of bad driving is picked up by guardians.
If you are reading this, you may be trying to search for an excuse for your so-called “bad driving” to win an argument with your friends and family—who have probably refused to get into your car as long as you are behind the wheel.
The good news is, a new study says bad driving might be inherited from parents.
The UK study was published on 21 April by Scrap Car Comparison and research company Censuswide, which surveyed 1,002 participants aged 17 and above. The survey looked into the driving behaviours and habits of both participants and their parents to identify whether there is a link in the patterns.
It then found that 66% of the bad driving is inherited.
“Although our research also proves that bad driving definitely is hereditary, that isn’t reason enough to be driving dangerously. Whether your parent is a bad driver or not, it’s important to always take care when behind the wheel and abide by road laws,” Scrap Car Comparison noted.
Breaking down the records of the people surveyed, Scrap Car Comparison said that a third, or 33%, of the young drivers have been pulled over by the police over the past decade. Another 30% had taken part in “a speed awareness course”.
It also found that 27% of the young group have received driving penalty points.
Comparing the data of the young drivers and their parents, a total of 36% of the latter have been pulled over by the police, and 37% participated in a speed awareness course. It also found 36% received penalty points on their licenses at some point.
The survey even found that 75% of the younger drivers and 62% of parents have licenses that are free from penalties.
With driving tests being the launch point into the world of driving, the survey analysed the results of the young drivers and their parents.
“The parents tend to have a higher first-time pass rate, with 3 in 5 (59%) passing on their first attempt, compared to 2 in 5 (42%) of their children,” the study explained.
Meanwhile, 66% of young drivers with so-called bad driving habits were raised by parents who carried out driving offences. A total of 26% of the younger drivers with clean driving records were raised by parents with no such violations.
“It’s only natural that we pick up some shortcuts that may not be quite by the book throughout our driving careers, but learning from parents can in some cases result in these being passed down without us really noticing,” the survey said.
More than 26% of the drivers surveyed agreed with the statement “I have learnt negative driving habits from my parents”. Some of the bad habits include speeding, which 55% said they picked up from their parents.
As for road rage, 49% said they learned it from their parents and 24% said they learned the poor spatial awareness from their guardians.
If you ever get frustrated over people who do not use their indicators on the road, you can definitely blame it on their parents too.
The survey found that using indicators “is the top habit that” 46% of the participants said they got from their parents. It also suggested that “children are actually generally better drivers than their parents.”
