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The easyCar World Driving Report 2006

Behind the Wheel - Driving Culture

From Australia to Italy and Spain to South Africa, every country's motorists have their own way of tackling the road ahead. They may rant and rave their way through their journey. Or calmly cruise along. Which countries do UK drivers find the most stressful? Where is the world's road rage capital? Which have the fastest drivers or the busiest roads? Who owns the flashiest cars? And where would you find the clearest highways and calmest byways?

Speed kings versus safe hands

It's not surprising the US is such a hit, as its drivers and roads are consistently voted amongst the world's safest, most careful, polite and aware. Across the board, UK drivers rate their North American, Northern European and Australian counterparts as being coolest, calmest and most collected on the world's highways. The US, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland are home to the world's most composed and vigilant motorists.

Countries voted as the easiest in which to drive:

  1. USA - 58%
  2. Australia - 53%
  3. Ireland - 49%
  4. Cyprus - 42%
  5. France - 41%

Countries voted as having the safest roads:

  1. Australia - 44%
  2. Switzerland - 43%
  3. USA - 40%
  4. Belgium - 39%
  5. Canada - 38%

Most polite drivers:

  1. Netherlands - 58%
  2. Ireland - 54%
  3. Canada - 47%
  4. USA - 37%
  5. Switzerland - 34%

Most aware drivers:

  1. Belgium - 36%
  2. Netherlands - 35%
  3. USA - 30%
  4. Germany - 27%
  5. Canada - 25%

Meanwhile, Mediterranean motorists seem to live up to their fiery reputation on the roads. Italian, Spanish, Greek and Portuguese drivers are consistently seen as the world's biggest boy racers with a devil-may-care attitude and hot temper to match.

Portugal has revved its way into record books as the home of road rage, according to UK drivers. Surprisingly, though, those cool cruisers of North America and Northern Europe have also raced up the world's road rage chart, with the Netherlands, Germany and Canada hitting the top five.

South African roads are also challenging, with their motorists rated not only the world's rudest but also the most reckless by a massive three in four Brits.

Fastest drivers:

  1. Italy - 79%
  2. Germany - 75%
  3. Spain - 65%
  4. Greece - 60%
  5. France - 59%

Most reckless drivers:

  1. South Africa - 75%
  2. Greece - 56%
  3. Italy - 53%
  4. Portugal - 51%
  5. Spain - 35%

Rudest drivers:

  1. South Africa - 50%
  2. Portugal - 19%
  3. France - 18%

Countries where UK drivers have experienced road rage:

  1. Portugal - 25%
  2. Netherlands - 12%
  3. Germany - 11%
  4. Ireland - 8%
  5. Canada - 6%

Not surprisingly, motoring through the Med is more manic than meandering, with between one in four and one in three UK drivers labelling the whole experience as stressful. However, the flip side of this Mediterranean mayhem is that these countries are also rated as the world's most exciting drives.

Countries where driving is seen as stressful:

  1. Italy - 42%
  2. Portugal - 36%
  3. Spain - 30%
  4. Greece - 28%
  5. South Africa - 25%

Countries where driving is seen as exciting:

  1. Switzerland - 34%
  2. Italy - 30%
  3. Greece - 25%
  4. Portugal - 21%
  5. Spain - 20%

Who's got the best wheels?

Its engineering is second to none. Its precision is world-renowned. It produced the biggest-selling car ever - the Beetle. So it's not surprising that Germany is home to the world's flashiest motors. Those cool customers of Northern Europe and America are also cruising round in the most expensive cars.

Most expensive-looking cars

  1. Germany - 40%
  2. Netherlands - 27%
  3. Switzerland - 23%
  4. Belgium - 21%
  5. USA - 15%

And size does indeed seem to matter in the States, as the home of the Big Mac(TM) can also pride itself on having the biggest wheels on the road. Meanwhile, the nippiest cars can be found in Belgium, according to Brits abroad.

Biggest cars:

  1. USA - 81%
  2. Canada - 72%
  3. Australia - 51%
  4. Switzerland - 23%
  5. Greece - 19%

Smallest cars:

  1. Belgium - 64%
  2. Cyprus - 45%
  3. Spain - 39%
  4. Netherlands - 39%
  5. France - 33%
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