The driving habits putting lives at risks

The biggest threat to lives on Luxembourg's roads is drivers using smartphones to read or write emails, according to the public.

A TNS/ILRES poll conducted with 1,008 people in Luxembourg, found that 95 percent of respondents considered using smartphones while driving posed the biggest danger to other motorists.

Following in the top three most dangerous behaviours was drinking four to five glasses of beer or wine before taking the wheel (93 percent) and failing to respect stopping distances on motorways and national roads (91 percent).

The survey, published on Thursday, is the second of its kind to be commissioned by Luxembourg road safety organisation “La Sécurité Routière”, after the first was carried out in 2007.

Comparing the two it would appear that driver behaviour on Luxembourg's roads has changed little over the seven-year period with the exception that smartphone use for emails is a relatively recent phenomenon. A third of respondents (28 percent) said that they had used a smartphone to read or write emails whilst driving.

Speeding in tunnels

Another new development concerned speeding in tunnels. Of those polled in 2014, three quarters (76 percent) said they had driven over the speed limit while in a tunnel compared to none in 2007.

A total 85 percent said they had run an orange light, the same proportion recorded in 2007.

Meanwhile, the proportion of drivers polled who admitted to overtaking or turning without indicating fell (48 percent in 2014, down from 58 percent in 2007).

The survey author concluded that driver behaviour would only change when motorists considered the dangers.

Penalties imposed by the police, for example, had less of an impact.

That said, more than three quarters of respondents (87 percent) said that losing licence points for the use of mobile phones (without hands-free kits) whilst driving would improve road safety.

In addition, more than three quarters (77 percent) said they believed mobile speed cameras would make roads safer.

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