• New Cars
    • First Impressions
    • Road Tests
  • Classics
    • Classic Profiles
    • Classic Driving Impressions
    • Classics Information
    • Events and Days Out
  • Motoring For Fun
  • News & Views
  • Bookshelf
  • Technical
    • Grumpy Old Mechanic
    • Kim’s Tips
  • Features
    • Visits
    • Track Days
  • Contributors
    • About our contributors
    • Kim Henson
    • Chris Adamson
    • Kieron Fennelly
    • Ant Henson
    • Rachel Henson
    • David Miles
    • Gerald Morgan
    • Dave Moss
    • Dave Randle
    • Robin Roberts
    • Tom Scanlan
    • Glen Smale
    • Jeremy Walton
    • Keith Ward
    • John Price Williams
  • More…
    • About Wheels Alive
    • Tips for using this website
    • Useful Links

Wheels Alive

Old cars, new cars, borrowed cars & blue cars. If it steers it's here!

Old cars, new cars, borrowed cars & blue cars. If it steers it's here!

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.

To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Revealed: The Commuting Habits Brits Hate The Most

24th July 2017

According to vehicle supply specialists OSV, 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 over 600 commuters what frustrates them most on their journey and created an infographic (shown) to highlight their findings.

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 who push on without letting people off first are the most hated, with 30% of public transport commuters putting them top of the pet peeve list. Leaving rubbish on public transport is another commuter no-no, with 18% citing it as their biggest bugbear.

17% of public transport commuters despise passengers who play loud music and 15% are angered by those passengers who cough and sneeze without covering their mouth.

Other irritable habits include those commuters who strike up conversations or small talk with strangers, people who eat, smelly or abusive passengers, crowds and loud children.

Car Commuter Pet Peeves

27.8% of drivers admit that those people who use their phone whilst behind the wheel are the most annoying. This is closely followed by being stuck in traffic, with 27.2% explaining that this was the most frustrating element of their commute.

14.7% of people detest other drivers who forget (?!) to indicate and 13% of car commuters dislike fellow drivers who drive below the speed limit.

Other annoying habits include those drivers who 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.”

To see the full the list of commuter pet peeves, check out the infographic from OSV above.

Save Post as PDF

Categories: News & Views

Tip: For improved search accuracy, enclose search terms for multiple words in quotation marks. For example:
"Land Rover".

Advertise with us

Recent Posts

For Your Bookshelf: Skoda Octavia – The First One: 1959–71 (The Story of a Czechoslovakian Automotive Icon)

Lakeland Motor Museum shortlisted for prestigious Cumbria Tourism award

National Motor Museum engineers rebuild second engine for Sunbeam 1000hp World Land Speed Record breaker

Beaulieu’s 2026 Custom and American Show set to be bigger and better in Route 66 Centenary Year

Skoda Fabia 130 – Road Test

Exciting season of events ahead at Buckler’s Hard

UK car sales figures for March 2026; EV discounts rule!

SEAT Arona 1.5 TSI FR Sport 150PS DSG – Road Test

Contributors

contributors

Our well-respected contributors live and breathe motor cars; aren’t we lucky?

Contributors to the site include talented, highly-respected people (so they tell me) on the hallowed membership list of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and from the similarly well thought-of Western Group of Motoring Writers. In addition there are valued contributions from other knowledgeable and capable motoring writers who have something useful to say about all aspects of driving and running vehicles in the 21st Century. All of our team are passionate about motor cars!


Read about our contributors  ››

Tags

Compact SUV EV all-electric Estate car hatchback five door hatchback estate National Motor Museum saloon PHEV 4x4 Seven seater SUV Hybrid Tyres Beaulieu crossover Suzuki First Impressions road test plug-in hybrid Kia SUV British Motor Museum Coupé luxury SUV MPV City car The Motor Ombudsman large SUV Electric

All Tags ››

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Wheels Alive Social

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Please share our website

Contact us

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Please click here to contact us.

Advertising Opportunities

Please contact us if you would like to discuss advertising opportunities on Wheels Alive.

Copyright © 2026 Kim Henson, Wheels Alive