REVEALED: The public’s strangest driving and car-related queries “Can you drive a car without fuel” and “how do I drive with one foot” are just two examples of results that have come from the latest research into the public’s online driving queries and searches. Google has been confirmed as our main port of call for some weird and wonderful questions, proving that a lot of us are perhaps a little too embarrassed to ask our peers certain things. One notable search that raised a few eyebrows, found through Google’s ‘auto-complete’ function, was around the public’s uncertainty as to whether it was legal to drive under the influence of tiramisu or not, with drivers turning to the search engine to find out. However, Italian deserts aside, more worrying concerns amongst drivers included:

• Can you drive and smoke weed?
• Can you drive after eating weed brownies?
• Can you drive in the UK with one eye?
• How to drive in the rain
• What side of the road should I drive on?
• What do traffic lights do?

The research, by car dealer Shelbourne Motors, looked at some of the most common car and driving related searches to determine what the main worries of the UK public are. The findings didn’t just concentrate on auto-complete searches however – Google search volumes were also used to determine the number of people searching for phrases during 2016-2017. Worried passengers and back seat drivers may want to look away now, as it was revealed that some of the strangest searches over the past year were around driving in the dark, what petrol was, and how to use indicators. Looking some of the top searches for the year, it might be time to ring the driving instructors back up, after parking appeared to be the number one issue on everyone’s mind, with ‘how to parallel park’ taking the top spot at 52,800 searches on average per year. Ronan Marshall, Group Marketing Manager at Shelbourne Motors, commented on the results saying: “The aim of the research was to find some interesting searches around driving, and we definitely think we managed to do just that. “One of the stand out results from our auto-complete searches was definitely the ‘Can you drive after tiramisu”, with the question sparking a lot of conversation. “Aside from some of the more bizarre searches we came across, it’s particularly interesting to see the search volumes around parking to be so high. It’s a given that a lot of us struggle to parallel park, but to see that the search term receives 52,800 searches a year seemed crazy to us. “We would probably advise some members of the public to top up their theory knowledge, especially those that are questioning how to drive round a roundabout and which side of the road they should be on.”