Few things grind our gears more than a rude driver – the type of person who speeds up when you indicate to change lanes, honks the second the light turns green, or shock horror, doesn’t give a thank-you wave when you kindly let them in. Luckily, Aussies have pretty good road etiquette – and new research reveals that our country is home to the second friendliest drivers in the world. Time to toot our own horns?
United Kingdom motorists took the top spot in Auto Trader’s latest study, which ranked drivers from 16 countries based on politeness, cooperation and kindness on the road. To compile the rankings, they asked 3,200 participants around the world to rate their behaviours in common driving scenarios, then asked them questions around ‘agreeableness’ from the respected 'Big 5 Personality Test'. These measures were then combined to calculate an overall ‘friendly driving score’, revealing the top ten most considerate countries behind the wheel.
Out of a total 51 points, Australia scored 35.02, placing us in second position behind the UK’s 35.40. While we might not have the same level of ingrained etiquette as the Brits, our laid-back lifestyle seems to translate to more tolerance and patience on the roads. Plus, Aussies are pretty clued in when it comes to road rules, with our drivers required to complete a series of comprehensive driving tests, clocking up hours and hours of supervised driving before earning the green light to drive solo.
Australia’s stunning landscapes are practically made for road trips, with well-connected and clearly signposted highways linking the country’s most popular destinations. This makes life easier for Aussie travellers, while relatively low congestion outside major cities helps keep drivers cruising stress-free.
Our friendly neighbours in New Zealand weren’t far behind, ranking as the third most considerate drivers in the world. The USA and Portugal rounded out the top five, with the full results available here.
These are the world’s 10 friendliest drivers:
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- New Zealand
- USA
- Portugal
- Canada
- France
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Ireland
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