Has The Pandemic Affected Our Driving Habits & How?

The Coronavirus pandemic has hit the world hard over the last 18 months and affected the world as we know it in many ways. It has also left a huge impact on how we drive, our driving habits, what we see on the roads and more. So what exactly has changed since the start of the pandemic? In this blog post, we are going to outline how exactly the pandemic has affected our driving habits.

A decrease in using our cars

Since the height of the pandemic, excluding key workers, we all know that many of us put our driving needs on the back burner and left our cars at home a lot more often. When in the peak of the lockdown, the UK was instructed to stay at home except for absolutely essential travel. Therefore, many more people were walking to the shops and back and walking around the block rather than heading on any road trips or long drives. This led to most main roads becoming a total ghost town, even during peak hours that are normally busy. 

Now the world is mostly heading back to normality, the UK roads have seen an increase in traffic once again, however, we aren’t quite back to our pre-pandemic numbers just yet, although this is changing and growing from day to day.

More cyclists on the road and pedestrians are seen on the street

With the risks the pandemic has seen, especially on public transport, many non-drivers have ditched the idea of public transport and resorted to walking or even cycling a lot more from place to place. Especially for those working in busy cities, public transport became a no go, especially when people started working from home, even though steps were taken to keep public transport as clean and safe as possible. This in turn, has helped the world heal, by so many people reducing their carbon footprint significantly as well as their overall health. 

Unfortunately, this has met with some issues for drivers that have taken back to the road. Some drivers have seen some struggles with the increase in pedestrians and cyclists, especially if drivers are slightly out of practice. This means, drivers need to be much more vigilant and conscious to check their mirrors regularly to avoid collisions or accidents. 

Our driving skills have slipped

Practice makes perfect, no matter the task. However, with less and less practice over the last 18 months drivers have either picked up some bad habits, or their skills have slipped, increasing the risk of accidents happening. It’s completely understandable for drivers to feel rusty after not driving for long periods of time, and it will come back just like muscle memory. However, many companies and manufacturers have advised that drivers read up on their tips on how to safely get back into the car post-lockdown. For more insightful information or relevant articles, head over to our blog, or for high quality tyres, head over to our website to shop.