One-third of Irish drivers believe their driving behaviour has improved in the last two years, according to a new European road behaviour survey by AXA Insurance.
Almost 50% of Irish drivers feel that drivers should be more severely punished for traffic offences, while only 28% of drivers in France believe in harsher penalties.
The road behaviour survey involved interviews with 800 drivers in Ireland and other countries, including Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
The results of the survey show that Irish drivers are aware of the dangers associated with driving, AXA Insurance said.
The survey showed that 92% of Irish drivers say they consider drink-driving dangerous - a higher percentage than the EU average of 78%.
But only 6% of Irish drivers admit to having been fined or receiving penalty points in the past year (mostly for speeding). This compares to 24% in Germany, 23% in Switzerland, 21% in Belgium and 7% in the UK.
Meanwhile 29% of Irish drivers admitted to answering the phone without a hands-free kit, which compares poorly to the UK score of 14%.
