NOW the stuff of legend, the infamous fluffy dice remains the number one car accessory other motorists love to hate, according to a new survey by one of the UK's largest motor retailers, ARRIVA.

Often in bright pink, orange or purple, the windscreen danglers are rated the most irritating form of motoring kitsch by two thirds of British car drivers.

The survey, into the motoring accessory preferences of over 500 car drivers nationwide, revealed that visual pollution is likely to get up the noses of other motorists faster than harmful emissions. Whilst only six per cent of drivers find dirty or noisy exhausts annoying, ten times as many hate bad taste items like plastic hands sticking out of the boot.

Whilst fluffy dice are today more likely to be tolerated in the South East of England, 76 per cent of drivers in Scotland loathe them with 79 per cent agreeing in the North of England.

Menacing bull bars meet the disapproval of 64 per cent in the North of England, but only 21 per cent in Scotland and 37 per cent in the Midlands. Drivers in Wales have a higher than average loathing for bull bars and plastic hands.

The more cumbersome car accessory of all, a caravan, irritates only 33 per cent of Scots but aggravates 52 per cent of users of more crowded roads in southern England.

Even without a caravan in tow, many motorists see the car as a mobile extension to their homes, packed with familiar items - such as window blinds, cushions, kleenex boxes, a tartan run, even a reclining, nodding dog - to give a sense of homely security.

Minor irritants were identified as mini football kits, go-faster stripes, blacked-out windows, extra brake lights and 'smelly' Christmas trees. 'Sensible stickers' such as 'Baby on board' or 'A dog is for life' were deemed acceptable in the main (although 23 per cent hated them in the South East) and fundraising items like comic red noses were looked upon kindly. Aural pollution, like loud musical horns or ultra powerful sound systems, were unpopular with the majority of drivers, especially women.

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