If you don’t want to be hated by your fellow commuters, stop doing the following things!
Recent research has found that 3.7 million Brits commute for two hours or longer each weekday and spend an average of £48,000 in their lifetime on commuting.
Most of the time, jumping in the car or taking public transport is pretty painless. But every once in awhile, your experience makes you question why you do this each day.
With this in mind, OSV asked commuters what frustrates them most on their journey.
The research found that public transport commuters are most annoyed by habits of their fellow commuters. And car commuters are most annoyed with people’s driving skills, or lack of.
Public transport pet peeves
Those passengers that push on without letting people off first are the most hated, with 30 per cent of public transport commuters putting them top of the pet peeve list. Leaving rubbish on public transport is another commuter no-no, with 18 per cent citing it as their biggest bugbear.
Moreover, 17 per cent of public transport commuters despise passengers that play loud music and 15 per cent are angered by those passengers that cough and sneeze without covering their mouth.
Other irritable habits include those commuters that strike up conversations or small talk with strangers, people that eat, smelly or abusive passengers, crowds and loud children.
Car commuter pet peeves
The research found that 27.8 per cent of drivers admit that those people that use their phone whilst behind the wheel are the most annoying. This is closely followed by being stuck in traffic, with 27.2 per cent explaining that this was the most frustrating element of their commute.
Furthermore, 14.7 per cent of people detest other drivers that forget to indicate and 13 per cent of car commuters dislike fellow drivers that drive below the speed limit.
Other annoying habits include those drivers that hog the middle lane, harsh brakers, tailgaters and sharing the roads with tractors and buses.
“After spending so much time and money on commuting, it’s not a surprise that certain habits and behaviours can test people’s patience”, said Debbie Kirkley, OSV’s Co-Founder. “But, next time you feel frustrated with your fellow commuters, just remember that it’s likely that every other commuter feels the same way as you do.”