Ask drivers whether they are safe behind the wheel and most will probably have a reassuring answer. Ask about everyone else on the road and the assessment can change quickly. The other driver was impatient. The other driver failed to leave enough room. The other driver should have been paying attention.
A recent Australian study puts numbers to that gap. In a survey of 2,334 drivers, 84% of respondents rated their own driving as safe during the 3pm rush. Just 42% said the same about other drivers.
The study, commissioned by Australian insurer Youi, also found that 62% admitted to at least one risky driving behaviour when running late. Taken together, the findings raise a useful question for anyone who considers themselves a capable driver. What happens to that judgement when the clock starts dictating the journey?
Confidence does not tell the whole story
There is nothing unusual about feeling confident on a familiar route. You know the junctions, the lane you need and where traffic usually slows. Repetition can make a journey feel easy to manage.
But confidence is a personal assessment. It does not account for the pedestrian approaching a crossing, the vehicle braking ahead or the driver beside you making an unexpected move.
The gap in Youi’s Project 3PM research is particularly relevant here. Drivers can see themselves as safe overall while acknowledging that time pressure changes their behaviour. A person does not have to think of themselves as reckless to make an impatient decision on a difficult afternoon.
That makes specific habits a more useful focus than a general verdict on whether we are good drivers. It is worth noting this is exactly the gap professional motorsport tries to close through repetition and process rather than instinct alone. A driver on a grid rarely relies on general confidence to get through a race clean. Formation laps, spotter communication, and rehearsed pit and restart procedures exist precisely because split-second judgement under pressure is not something even the most experienced drivers are asked to trust unassisted. The everyday equivalent of that discipline, a routine you follow regardless of how capable you feel that day, is what the research below is really pointing towards.
How running late changes the drive
Among those surveyed, 28% reported becoming impatient with other road users when behind schedule. More frequent lane changes were reported by 20%, accelerating through amber lights by 19% and exceeding the speed limit by 18%.
These are recognisable responses to feeling delayed. The lane beside you moves, so you want to move too. A light changes, and you are tempted to get through before another wait. A slow vehicle starts to feel like the reason the whole afternoon is falling apart.
Each decision can seem small in isolation. Together, they describe a journey increasingly shaped by the desire to recover lost time. Attention shifts towards getting ahead of the next car or reaching the next junction, when it needs to remain on the full road environment.
The useful moment to intervene is when that urgency first appears. Notice the temptation to change how you drive because you are late, then keep your decisions tied to the conditions in front of you.
Why the afternoon deserves attention
The study found that 55% of respondents considered 3pm more stressful for driving than any other time of day. It is a period when work travel, shopping, appointments and school collections overlap.
That mix makes it misleading to dismiss afternoon congestion as somebody else’s school-run problem. Drivers are sharing the road while trying to complete very different tasks, often with limited time between them.
Nearly a quarter of respondents, 24%, reported a road incident during the 3pm period in the previous year. That category included near misses and loss of vehicle control as well as collisions; it should not be read as a collision rate.
The research describes drivers’ reported experiences, rather than proving that every incident was caused by rushing. Even so, the combination of pressure, admitted risky behaviour and reported incidents gives motorists a reason to examine their routines.
Make a plan for being late
Most driving advice tells people to leave earlier. That can help, but it does not cover the days when a meeting runs over or an earlier appointment takes longer than expected.
A useful addition is deciding how to respond when the schedule slips. Before departure, tell the person expecting you about the delay. Drop an optional stop if possible. Set navigation while parked, so an unfamiliar route does not add another task once you are moving.
On the road, leave space, avoid unnecessary lane changes and accept that the journey may take longer than planned. If you need to change arrangements, wait until you can stop somewhere safe and legal. The delay is a scheduling problem to resolve without adding pressure to each driving decision.
Review habits before judging everyone else
Youi’s 3PM Playbook, developed with input from Road Sense Australia, encourages drivers to Plan, Prepare and Pause. It gives the familiar idea of preparation a place in everyday journeys, including a check of the driver’s state of mind before departure.
For someone who is already comfortable behind the wheel, the most valuable change may be modest. Leave the phone alone. Stay patient when a lane slows. Recognise that an appointment will be missed before treating every traffic gap as a chance to catch up.
A driver’s own habits are something they can act on directly. The next time an afternoon journey starts late, that is a useful place to put their attention, whether the drive in question is a school pick-up or the trip home from a track day.
