One in three drivers unaware of speed limit
Thursday, 29 May 2008 10:27
Car Insurance: Brits are failing to watch their speeds
Thirty-three per cent of British motorists do not know the national speed limit.
Exceeding the speed limit now causes over 7,000 accidents a year, 14 per cent of which are fatal, and research by uSwitch.com shows further driving ignorance could be costing lives.
Over half (58 per cent) of drivers are apparently unaware of who has priority when traffic lights fail, with 14 per cent relying on speed limit signs to know how fast to drive.
Travelling too fast in certain weather conditions causes 16,000 accidents, 18 per cent of which are fatal.
What may concern consumers more is that uSwitch estimates that they pay £854 million extra for car insurance each year as a result of making just one claim.
Insurers pay out over £23 million a day in claims – almost £1 million an hour - £1,908 is paid out on average for each car insurance claim, a 23 per cent (£355) increase since 2001.
Claiming for just one accident adds £193 (44 per cent) to the average motor insurance premium, wiping out two years worth of no claims discount.
uSwitch claims to have tested over 2,500 motorists on basic driving theory and their results make sobering reading, with just one per cent of respondents answering all questions correctly.
Overall, one in three people (34 per cent) scored less than 50 per cent and almost one in ten (eight per cent) got every question wrong.
Simple questions such as being able to identify the national speed limit caught out a third of drivers - potentially equating to 13 million driving licence holders.
Eight out of every ten drivers do not know the correct shape of a ‘Stop’ sign, the tests reveal, and 53 per cent do not know the meaning of an amber traffic light on its own.
David Brown