ONE in 20 drivers at junctions could have been thrown forward or through the windscreen if they were forced to make an emergency stop.
That’s the finding of the AA’s army of volunteer Streetwatchers, who logged 40,000 vehicles at junctions and roundabouts and found 4.92 per cent of drivers not to be wearing seatbelts.
But if drivers had smashed into the back of the car in front, it may not have been entirely their fault as nearly one in 25, some 3.6 per cent, of cars had broken brake lights.
However, 9.57 per cent were judged to be going too fast while negotiating the junctions and would have made a collision even worse.
The use of hand-held phones while driving was better than most AA members expected. A complementary AA/Populus poll, responded to by 11,548 members, found that 83 per cent expected to see five per cent of drivers using a hand-held phone.
In actual fact the watchers registered only 0.23 per cent to be on the mobile at junctions.
And in what was the biggest-ever street survey of driver behaviour carried out in the UK, some 10 per cent of drivers were reported by the AA Streetwatchers to be travelling too fast at a junction near their home.
Twelve per cent of observers witnessed some action they deemed to be road rage and while there were some worrying trends, overall most drivers were reported to be acting responsibly.