Top In-Car Arguments Revealed by New Poll from the AA

A recent poll of 23,085 members of the AA has revealed some of the most frequently argued about topics between drivers and passengers on car journeys. It’s something that’s happened to many of us at one point or another; driving can after all be a very stressful activity!

In fact well over half of drivers admit to arguing in the car, with 65% saying that they argue with others during journeys. With these levels of anger and tension inside cars it’s no wonder that horns often start beeping all over the place when there’s no actual hazard to warn others about. So next time someone unjustly beeps their horn at you, you never know, it might just be a way of venting their anger at the irritating person in the passenger’s seat.

It also seems that although younger people like to think they’re more relaxed and chilled out than their elders, 18-24 year olds actually came out top for most likely to argue while driving (with 73% saying that they did). Contrastingly over 65s seem to be able to keep their cool a lot better (coming in under the survey average at only 60%).

From highest to lowest the following reasons were cited for being the cause of arguments in cars:

1. Knowing the way to go

2. Driving too fast

3. Not asking for directions

4. Noisy children

5. Shouting at other drivers

6. Temperature in the car

7. Not agreeing on where to eat

8. Not agreeing on what to listen to

9. Topic of conversation

10. Driving too slowly

AA logoEdmund King, president of the AA said, “Long journeys often get fraught at times.  The key thing is taking time to prepare well for the journey which should help keep arguments at bay.

Making sure that younger passengers are entertained will help keep them quiet. Plan some picnic stops to break up long journeys and check over your car before you set off”

Richard Bush, Staff Writer for automotive website Motor Torque, said “Going the wrong way is always going to be an argumentative topic in the car, especially if you are sat beside your partner or a friend who thinks they have an A-Z Street Atlas in their head. I’m just surprised that arguing over what music to listen to was not higher than number eight. Hopefully these kafuffles wouldn’t get out of hand. It would be interesting to see a study into how many of these disagreements could result in dangerous driving.”

This entry was posted in Fun Car Stuff on by Marc Murphy

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