The AA has found that a third of drivers have changed the way they drive over the last year.
The changes in behaviour have been linked to the coalition government’s introduction of new fines last year. The fines were aimed at motorists who were driving carelessly or inconsiderately and were welcomed by much of the public.
The survey asked 16,606 drivers and 29% said that they had changed their habits over that period however 74% said that they hadn’t noticed any difference in other people’s driving. 12% said that they had seen incidents of tailgating reduce since last year and 11% signalled that there had been less lane-hogging over the same period.
Changes have given the police power to issue fixed penalty notices for these sorts of offences, they are largely offences considered to be inconsiderate as opposed to being criminal. 82% of survey respondents said that the only way for these new rules to work and for people to change habits is to have a more visible presence of police officers on the roads; cuts to police budgets have however led forces to reduce their traffic officer numbers.
Paul Watters leads on AA road policy and he said: "Careless driving has been an offence since the 1980s, but it was hoped that giving police the power to fine people for less serious examples of it would encourage drivers to change their behaviour, without clogging up the courts.’’
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