Shropshire Star

Learning how to parallel park properly and keeping on top of car maintenance tops drivers’ new year resolutions

UK motorists also say they want to keep their road rage in check and stop using their phones at the wheel

Published

Motorists across the country have vowed to improve how they drive and look after their vehicles as part of their new year resolutions.

According to a new poll, 24 per cent of 1,018 UK drivers setting their 2018 targets say that checking tyre pressure and oil levels regularly is to be their top priority.

Learning to park properly comes in second (17 per cent), with conquering a fear of motorway driving third (16 per cent). This is closely followed by getting better at reversing (15 per cent), and to not get road rage (14 per cent).

However, 18 per cent of people that undertook the survey by Young Driver – the UK’s largest pre-17 driving school – felt they were such perfect road users that there was nothing they needed to change.

Worryingly, using a phone behind the wheel still emerged as a concern with 13 per cent saying their resolution is to switch it off when they’re behind the wheel. One in 10 (11 per cent) admitted to checking messages while at traffic lights, and eight per cent said they needed to stop using their handset whilst driving.

Head of marketing Laura White said: “Our instructors obviously spend a lot of time teaching youngsters the right and wrong way to drive – but of course children are watching and learning from their parents all the time. If you’re showing them it’s OK to take a call behind the wheel, or to get mad when another driver cuts in, they expect that’s how everyone drives.

“It seems that demonstrating how to reverse or parallel park well might also be an issue for quite a lot of people. Many drivers end up avoiding doing things because they’re nervous, and then they lose the knack.”

By Will Rimell

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