News: Using a phone at the wheel tops poll of most hated driver habits

USING A mobile phone handset while driving is not only illegal, it is the one thing guaranteed to get your fellow motorists hot under the collar should they see you.

The practice is the nation’s most hated driving habit, according to a survey by Kwik Fit. In fact, so despised is it that it has pushed tailgating, the most hated habit in the previous survey carried out in 2010, into second place.

Even dangerous overtaking and undertaking have been forced well down the table by the mobile phone.

But drivers have good reason to despise the practice. According to figures from the Department for Transport, drivers are four times more likely to crash when using a mobile phone, while their reaction times are around 50% slower.

Its Think! campaign advises motorists not to make or answer calls when driving and, if they must make a call, to park safely before doing so. It also advises other people to avoid calling or texting someone they know is driving.

UK’s most-hated driver habits:

1. Using a mobile handset to talk/text
2. Tailgating
3. Failing to indicate
4. Dangerous overtaking
5. Middle-lane cruisers
6. Last-minute braking
7. Undertaking
8. Hesitant driving
9. Being slow from the lights
10. Jumping the lights