What are drivers afraid of in the winter? Survey results
The study conducted for Goodyear by the European research agency YouGov covered 4,500 drivers from 9 countries, including Poland. It examined what they fear the most while driving in winter.
11:06 AM EDT, October 6, 2023
The study showed that Polish drivers feel less safe in difficult winter road conditions compared to the average from other surveyed European countries. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 means completely safe, the most common score for Polish respondents was 5 (22 percent). This was followed by scores of 6 and 7. Only 15 percent of the responses ranged from 8 to 10.
For comparison, European drivers most often chose 7 and nearly the same result was achieved by 8 (19 and 18 percent respectively), and in total 29 percent chose between 8-10. Let's examine the reasons.
The most concerning for Polish drivers is ice on the road (60 percent) and equally slippery roads and limited visibility (47 percent). For drivers from other countries, ice on the road is also the top concern (52 percent), followed by another driver losing control of their car (37 percent), and limited visibility (36 percent).
In response to the question "what gives you confidence while driving in winter", Polish drivers answered that reducing speed (70%), maintaining distance from other vehicles (65%), and road lighting (50%).
Approach to winter tires extremely different
Poles change their winter tires decisively in the first place when asked about ways to prepare for difficult winter conditions. This was the answer given by 65 percent of respondents. For comparison, drivers from other countries chose scraping windscreens as their first choice (52 percent of responses). Only 49 percent of respondents replaced their winter tires. Meanwhile, scraping windscreens for the Polish respondents came in second place with a score of 59 percent.
By the way, drivers were asked how important the correct tires are for them. On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is very important and 1 is not important at all, as many as 56 percent of people rated it a 10, and a total of 26 percent chose 8 and 9.
As can be seen from the above results, Poland is a very good market for winter tire manufacturers. Also for good quality all-season tires, which are gaining popularity year by year.
