Dangerous/Carless Driving
Some motorists drive with gross irresponsibility or reckless disregard towards the safety of other road users. Dangerously irresponsible drivers are a small minority.
Careless and inconsiderate driving, particularly through inattention, is a major cause of serious injuries on the roads. It is important to reduce the incidence of careless driving by influencing driver behaviour through increasing awareness of the risk and the effect of certain activities when driving and by enhanced enforcement.
The category ‘careless driving' is composed of the following causation factors;
- Disobeyed traffic sign/signal
- Wrong course position
- Misjudging speed/distance
- Driving too close
- Junction overshoot
- Turning right without care
- Turning left without care
- ‘U’ turn without care
- reversing without care
- stopping without care
- starting without care
- overtaking on nearside without care
- overtaking on offside without care
- changing lane without care
- emerging from minor road without care
- emerging from private road/entrance without care
- crossing/entering road junction without care
- inattention or attention diverted
- distracted by action inside vehicle
- distracted by action outside vehicle
- fatigue
During 2005 ‘careless driving’ was responsible for killing 54 and seriously injuring 554 people. A quarter (25%) of these casualties were aged 16 - 24.
Careless driving resulted in a larger proportion of female killed and seriously injured casualties (35%) than either consumption of alcohol or drugs by drivers/riders or excessive speed.
Nearly a half (47%) of casualties killed or seriously injured due to careless driving were drivers of motor vehicles and 39% of this group were female. Around two fifths (41%) of drivers killed or seriously injured due to careless driving were aged 16 - 34
(Statistics taken from PSNI Road Traffic Collision Statistics Annual Report 2005)
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