Poll: Slovaks Consider Themselves to Be Good Drivers

Bratislava, March 24 (TASR) – Only 32 percent of Slovaks think that the number of road deaths may significantly decrease in the next few years, which is 17 percent less than the EU average (49 percent), TASR learnt on Thursday.

Slovakia was therefore found to be the most pessimistic country along with Greece (33 percent) and Germany (36 percent) in a poll carried out by the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation in cooperation with the IPSOS Foundation in order to shed some more light on drivers’ behaviour in 11 EU-member countries.

The foundations launched the ‘European Barometer on Responsible Driving’ project six years ago and managed to collect the data within three years.

Slovaks consider themselves to be good drivers, although they’re very critical when it comes to others. When asked how they would grade their driving skills, they gave themselves 7.5 out of 10 on average, which is more modest than the EU average (7.7). When describing their own behaviour while driving, almost all Slovaks (97 percent) used at least one positive adjective – cautious (69 percent), calm (58 percent) and decent (19 percent).

Slovaks weren’t so gracious when describing their compatriots. They consider them to be irresponsible (60 percent), aggressive (33 percent), dangerous (24 percent) and stressed out (22 percent).

Europeans unanimously agreed that the best drivers are the Swedes (37 percent), followed by the Germans (27 percent) and British (12 percent). Meanwhile, they considered Italians (28 percent), Greeks (18 percent) and Poles (15 percent) to be the most irresponsible drivers.

The VINCI Autoroutes Foundation for Responsible Driving was established in February 2011 and has become a kind of laboratory, observatory and information tool designed for reducing danger on the roads.

Its goal is to contribute towards changing behaviour among drivers and to help them to ensure their own safety. Its activities include information campaigns about risks on the roads, the financing of the science and innovation research focused on the most understudied areas of dangerous behaviour and non-governmental initiatives aimed at making drivers more responsible.