More than 70 per cent of UAE motorists admit to road rage driving, new survey reveals

DUBAI: Are UAE motorists tolerant? Here is a little takeaway.

Seventy three per cent of UAE residents surveyed in a recent study admit to road rage while driving.

In a ‘first-ever’ behavior research study conducted by Noor Takaful | Ethical Insurance and RoadSafetyUAE, to research, evaluate and analyse UAE motorists’ tolerance made this starkling revelation.

According to the study, 73 per cent of respondents state to ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ fall into road rage themselves. A good 63 per cent of UAE drivers said they ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ see other drivers falling into such road rage.

Wait! There is more. Take this: According to the study, 58 per cent of road drivers in the UAE observe rude retaliating driving or stopping, blocking traffic as an act of road rage. Thirty six per cent even resort to foul gestures and 24 per cent foul language.

There is some good news however.

Fifty per cent of the survey respondents think road users are tolerant to each other in general, however the level of tolerance is only 45 per cent in case of true mistakes of others, and it further drops to 35 per cent in case of deliberate and egoistic acts like reckless driving, bullying, jumping the queue, tailgating and similar.

As 2019 marks the ‘UAE Year of Tolerance’, the survey – which attempts to find out how tolerant motorists are to each other – is rather well timed.

“This ‘first-ever’ behavior research study tries to shed light on motorists’ tolerance when it comes to true mistakes of others, deliberate bullying behavior, and what makes us fall into road rage,” said Thomas Edelmann, Founder & Managing Director of RoadSafetyUAE.

Sudharsan Narasimhan, Chief Underwriting Officer of Noor Takaful | Ethical Insurance said: "The idea of a positive road culture based on tolerance, empathy and ethics is very close to our hearts as the deepest-rooted value of our company is to practice ethically."

“We've partnered with RoadSafetyUAE to research, evaluate and analyse this very subject as this is especially relevant with 2019, the Year of Tolerance."

Edelmann added: “We wanted to understand how tolerant UAE motorists are to each other in the case of true mistakes and in the case of deliberate acts of bullying, but also how prone we are to road rage and in which situations we are losing our temper.

"In order to craft the right communication and engagement initiatives to raise awareness and consequently better the behavior on the roads, we need to understand the motivators for the behavior we experience on the roads. Hence, this piece of research will add a lot of value in understanding.”

Frederick Bisbjerg, Chief Digital Acceleration Officer, Noor Takaful | Ethical Insurance said: “We want to influence UAE motorists to be respectful and ethical on the roads through our #SafeSunday campaign.”

“Road rage often escalates from one driver to the other. In reflection of the essence of 2019, ‘Year of Tolerance’ we would like to urge motorists to be tolerant, empathetic and compassionate towards each other to help make our roads safer.”

The study was commissioned by Noor Takaful and RoadSafetyUAE and was conducted by YouGov in October 2019, based on the views of a representative sample of 1,000 UAE residents.

The details of the UAE Road Safety Monitor can be found in the ‘featured’ section on: http://www.roadsafetyuae.com/statistics.

RoadSafetyUAE’s vision is to contribute to reducing the number of road traffic fatalities, injuries and accidents in the UAE. RoadSafetyUAE’s mission is to raise the awareness for proper conduct on our roads, in an engaging manner and on a broadly communicated and permanent basis.

RoadSafetyUAE’s award-winning platform engages with the stakeholder’s traffic participants, governmental entities, the media, and more than 20 corporate social responsibility (CSR) minded partners.

‘Tips & Tricks’ are the content backbone, provided for more than 60 topics of road safety, all specifically relevant to the UAE. More can be found on www.RoadSafetyUAE.com.