It is a hot, sticky summer’s day. You roll down the window of your car to let the air cool you down, but you start steaming as you notice the hottie on the footpath walking her dog. Your sunglasses steam up and you can’t keep your eyes off her. You break into song ‘Pretty woman walking down the street, pretty woman the kind I’d like to….CRASH!!’ It is trouble time as you have just rear ended the old age pensioner in front of you.
While staring, you have managed to rear end the car in front of you. This type of incident is highly common during the summer. Hot blooded men just can’t keep their eyes on the road. Imagine the embarrassment of phoning your insurance company to explain away that one!
Just last month, in a ‘rare’ outspoken moment (note the sarcasm) Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, shared his thoughts on this problem. He remarked: ‘People imagine the most dangerous time of the year to drive is November or perhaps February - dark nights, fog, ice’ He goes on to say that ‘Sunny skies, light breezes, girls wearing short skirts, because the thing is, you can’t not look. You can’t physically not look.’
New research into this phenomenon has shown that 29% of drivers of the male variety admitted to being distracted by the ‘Pretty woman’ during summer. The same cannot be said for women drivers where only a very low 3% admitted to being distracted by men. Combine this with stats that show that men made 16.4% more car insurance claims than women and a clear trend emerges. 25% of men said that within the last 5 years they have had a summertime crash or very near miss.
I would like to hear if anyone out there has had a similar experience and if you admitted it to your insurance company or your girlfriend. I wish I had some words of wisdom for male drivers this summer but I think it’s pretty obvious, get your eyes off the skirt and keep them on the road. If you want to keep your car in tip top condition then give it the love and sole dedication that it deserves. A wandering eye will lead to mishap and guess who will look like a fool then?
If you are planning on spotting talent this summer then make sure your car is insured. The young drivers insurance prices at AXA Car Insurance should be able to distract you for a few minutes.
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