If you braved last year's 'big freeze' and drove to work you are one of the 66 per cent who did so according to the findings of the Skoda Ireland Motoring Index. The index, released to signify the launch of the new 4x4 range from the Czech manufacturer, also uncovered that almost half of us eat while behind the wheel, over a third chat on the phone, a worrying one in five people spend their driving time texting while 15 per cent admit to smoking.
According to the index male drivers are more likely to have broken the speed limit with 64 per cent of participants admitting to having driven at speeds of between 140- and 200km/h as opposed to 45 per cent of female drivers who admitted the same. This is probably down to the 49 per cent of male drivers believing that they are better drivers than their partners.
While men scored low on the speeding side when it came to car maintenance it was the women who were let down with 37 per cent of women confessing to being unable to change a spare wheel while a quarter of the female participants said they had never checked the oil in their car.
Probably the most interesting statistic of the index though is the one that says of the 882 people surveyed, almost 230 of them risk damaging their windscreen by pouring boiling water over it as a means of de-frosting the car. Those people should get themselves along to their local Skoda dealership during the Skoda Ireland Open Week (November 1-6) where free winter driving packs are being given away to those who test drive the new 4x4 range.