9 April 2002: Ten per cent of motorists would just drive off if they scraped the side of an empty parked car, according to a UK survey.

But nearly two in three would leave contact details in a message on the windscreen of the damaged car, says breakdown company Autonational Rescue found.

A further 16% would make a token effort to find the damaged vehicle's owner, with 6% waiting for the owner to return and 2% reporting the accident to the police.

Motorists over the age of 55 were far more likely to leave a message on the damaged car than 16-24 year-old drivers.

The survey also found:

When a driver tailgates - drives too closely to the vehicle in front - 37% of motorists play safe and simply pull over to let the tailgater pass.

34% brake gently to encourage the driver to back off.

15% of women and 11% of men slow down to annoy the tailgater as much as possible.

58% of male motorists and 36% of women drivers would stop in bad weather late at night if they saw a woman alone with a small child in a broken-down car at the roadside.

11% of women drivers would not stop at all, but would call the police while 4% of women would just continue their journey.

©2002irishcar.com