Guilty of careless driving

37% of motorists are guilty of driving without due care and attention, according to new research carried out on UK streets by Direct Line Car Insurance.

The insurer employed the services of an independent research team who observed the driving behaviour of 11,000 motorists in 10 cities across the UK over two weeks. The researchers recorded more than two thousand actual instances of offences, which would be classed as careless driving.

Careless driving is a serious offence and a conviction carries three to nine penalty points and fines of up to £2500.

The most common type of careless driving observed was the motorist failing to indicate - researchers finding 32% of drivers doing so.

Failing to stop at a pedestrian crossing (17%) was also noted as a serious problem - an offence, incidentally, which carries three penalty points and a fine of up to £1,000.

Manchester's motorists were the least considerate at a crossing, with 45% ignoring a pedestrian and failing to bring their vehicle to a halt.

Meanwhile, widespread mobile phone usage was also spotted by researchers, with 5% of motorists regularly ignoring the law and continuing to drive whilst talking or texting on their phones.

Across the country, observations in Birmingham indicated that they were the worst culprits for using a mobile while driving, with close 16% caught doing so.

The survey revealed that across the nation, motorists in Norwich appeared to be the most considerate drivers. They were found more likely to indicate and stop at a pedestrian crossing and less likely to use their mobiles while driving.

However at the other end of the scale, careless drivers were more likely to come from Leeds, which appears to have less considerate drivers than even London, traditionally thought of as the place with the most aggressive drivers.

Starting with the poorest drivers, the five worst offenders were Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, London and Birmingham.

29 September 2006 © Moneyextra.com

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