Less swearing and honking … Since the pandemic, the French are (a little) less nervous at the wheel

An “indirect effect” of the health crisis? The French are a little less nervous behind the wheel since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the 11th Barometer of responsible driving of the Vinci Autoroutes foundation published on Wednesday.

They thus have the insult less easy although still very frequent: 65% have already insulted another driver, a drop of five points compared to the previous survey, carried out at the beginning of last year before the outbreak of the epidemic. novel coronavirus.

Who are the most nervous at the wheel?

They are also less likely to honk inadvertently (53%, -3 pts) and consider becoming a different person with a steering wheel in their hands, either more nervous, impulsive or aggressive (16%, -4).

Ile-de-France residents and inhabitants of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region are the most nervous, the first honking the most for example (65%), the second having easy insults more than elsewhere (70%).

Has the health crisis therefore appeased the drivers? For the general delegate of the Vinci Autoroutes foundation, Bernadette Moreau, it has above all had an “indirect effect”, insofar as, with the travel restrictions, “there are fewer people on the road, less traffic, and therefore less tension ”. “The interest will be to see if these better behaviors last over time or if we are going to return to the + world before +”, she adds to AFP.

Fear of the aggressive attitude of others

This slight improvement should also be qualified, she continues, since 88% of drivers (+1 pt) are afraid of the aggressive attitude of others. And the use of “distractors” (telephone, GPS guidance systems) while driving is clearly on the rise, a trend that has continued for several years: 54% (+6 in one year and +14 in five years) call using a Bluetooth system and 44% set their GPS (+3 and +8).

Ile-de-France residents lead in these two categories (62% and 48%). “Distractors take up even more space. We have the impression that it will never stop, in particular because the vehicles are always more connected and give the illusion that we can do several things at the same time ”, comments Bernadette Moreau.