This article is based on National UK Statistics Road Traffic, the Free Flow Vehicle Speeds and Road Congestion in Great Britain during 2007. These statistics are studied by the underwriters of car insurance at the UK’s largest insurance companies.
Road Traffic in Great Britain
•It is estimated that total traffic rose by 5.5 billion vehicle kilometres (1.1 per cent) to 513 billion kilometres between 2006 and 2007. This is a 14 per cent increase over the last 10 years.
•79 per cent of all motor vehicle traffic relates to cars. In 2007, car traffic totalled 404 billion kilometres. This is a 0.4 per cent increase from 2006, and is up by 11 per cent over the last 10 years.
•Light van traffic is still growing faster than overall traffic. This continues a trend that began in 2000. In 2007, light van traffic was 68.2 billion kilometres, a 4.6 per cent rise from 2006, and a 40 per cent rise over the last 10 years.
•Heavy goods vehicle traffic was estimated to be 29.4 billion kilometres in 2007. This was an increase of 0.8 per cent from 2006 and 9.4 per cent over the last 10 years.
•During 2007, 86% of Great Britain motor vehicle traffic occurred in England. Scotland accounted for 9% and Wales 6%.
•Foreign registered vehicles accounted for approximately 1 kilometre in every 215 kilometres driven in 2007.
•’A’ roads and Motorways and account for 12% and 1% respectively of the road length in Great Britain. In contrast, 44 per cent of traffic was on ‘A’ roads and 20% on motorways.
•It is estimated that in 2007 there are 345 thousand kilometres of minor roads (i.e. ‘B’, ‘C’ and unclassified) in Great Britain. This amounted to 87% of the total national road length. These roads carried 37% of all traffic.
Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain
•In the last 10 years, the percentage of vehicles exceeding the 30 mph speed limit in free flow conditions fell for every type of vehicle. Cars had the most significant decrease… ten years ago, 70% of cars were driven at speeds exceeding the set limits; by 2007, this had dropped to less than 50%
•On Motorways, 54% of cars exceeded the 70 mph speed limit. But, 18% of cars were being driven at 80 mph or over.
•Happily on Motorways, very few heavy goods vehicles exceeded their 60 mph speed limit. However, over 82% exceeded the 50 mph speed limit on dual carriageway non-built-up roads. Nearly 3 out of 4 exceeded the 40 mph limit on single carriageway non-built-up roads.
•More than 50% of all motorbikes were driven faster than the 30 mph speed limit in built-up areas. Of these, nearly 25% of the total exceeded the speed limit by 5 mph or more.
Congestion and Traffic Speeds on the English Inter-Urban Road Network.
On the English Strategic Road Network:
•Over the last 2 years, the average traffic speed over the whole network fell by 0.8% from 55.4 mph to 55.0 mph. The average speed for the weekday evening peak fell by 1.4% and motorway speeds fell by 1.8%. On dual carriageway ‘A’ roads speeds rose by 1.2 per cent.
Congestion in English Built-up Areas
•The average peak morning speeds on key routes in the 10 biggest built-up areas vary considerably from route to route and area to area. 5% of routes achieved average speeds in excess of 30 mph, and 38% had average speeds of 15 mph or lower.
•As expected, traffic slows down on these key routes at the beginning of the morning peak (which in most areas is between 6.30 and 6.45 am), and by about 9.30 am returns to daytime average speeds.
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Filed under Finances by on Dec 4th, 2008. Comment. 
Jeremy Clarkson recently asked everyone in his audience who considered themselves a conscientious safe driver, to put their hand up. A forest of hands appeared. But was everyone truthful?
Even the most careful driver will have broken a speed limit at some time or another. We all do it, some by lack of concentration, some by failing to notice the speed limit, some because we’re running late, and other simply because it gives them a buzz.
The fact is that if we exceed the prescribed speed limits for a stretch of road we run the risk of being punished. Whether we’re caught by a speed camera or a police officer it’s going to cost. Precisely how much usually depends on the particular speed limit you exceeded and by how much it was exceeded. And despite the proclaimed fairness of the British Courts, your fine may also be influenced by which court you find yourself in and whether the magistrate had a good lunch! Even if it’s a relatively minor speeding offence, don’t expect to come away with change out of £60. And if you were over the ton on a motorway, a £500 fine would be cheap and you’d be luck to keep your licence.
So that leads on to penalty points. All speeding offences attract penalty points. Exactly how many again depends on the circumstances of the offence but generally you can expect three penalty points for a minor speeding offence. In indirectly, penalty points can be very expensive. Insurance companies take a great interest in their clients driving record and take the number of penalty points on your licence, and the reasons for their existence, as a reliable guide to the level risk they are taking by insuring you. So penalty points will certainly result in your insurance company increasing your premium on your next renewal. And the more powerful you car is, the greater the risk and the more the insurance company becomes concerned!
Accumulating points on your licence is also a dangerous affair. If you have been driving for more than two years and have accumulated 12 penalty points in the space of three years, you can expect an automatic ban. For inexperienced drivers who have held a full driving licence for less than two years, an automatic ban comes into force with just six penalty points and you have to retake your driving test once the driving ban has expired.
The highest cost with driving fast comes with the escalating chances of an accident. If your excessive speed was a factor in an accident, not only could you lose your no claims bonus but you could get between 3 and 11 penalty points for dangerous driving. And the loss of your no claims bonus would mean that the following year the cost of your car insurance would rocket.
Are fines, penalty points and higher insurance costs the most defining costs for excessive speed? No! Don’t forget the human cost. You might not worry about injuring yourself in an accident, but have a care for the other road users and pedestrians. Injuries can ruin lives and deaths devastate families.
You might think that it would never happen to you – but it can.
Take care and remember – excessive speed kills.
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Filed under Finances by on Dec 4th, 2008. Comment.
One in twenty cars on the road are being driven uninsured and a third of all drivers have at one time or another driven without insurance. And it’s a fact that uninsured drivers cause more accidents and are more likely to be involved in criminal activity than insured drivers.
So what are the facts?
• 10% of drivers have had an accident involving an uninsured driver.
• 13% of young drivers believe that driving without insurance doesn’t harm anyone and therefore it’s acceptable.
• Last year the Motor Insurance Bureau paid out £500 million to parties injured by uninsured motorists. This money has to be paid by someone – inevitably it has to be paid out of the premiums of honest motorists. In fact, each insured driver is paying between £30 and £60 within their annual premium to cover the insurance industry’s costs associated with these uninsured drivers
•Around 17% of uninsured drivers are convicted each year.
People who drive without insurance are:
• up to ten times more likely to be involved in an accident.
• six times more likely to drive a vehicle that is non road-worthy.
• Considerably more likely to be involved in a hit and run accident
• four times more likely to be convicted of driving without due care and attention
• eleven times more likely to be convicted of a drink driving offence.
We believe that the Police must crack down on uninsured drivers. There is clearly an important role for Automatic Number Plate Recognition Cameras to assist Police target uninsured drivers. And more traffic police must be present on our roads to act as a visual deterrent.
We also support the police powers which allow them to seize and in some cases destroy vehicles that are being driven without insurance.
We also want to see court sentencing tact as a real deterrent to uninsured driving. When drivers do get stopped for being uninsured, many gamble that they’ll be given a modest fine of around £200 which for many is a fraction of the annual premium they’d have to pay. If offenders can’t afford to pay fines (and many will argue just that), then other appropriate sanctions such as community service must be imposed.
Premiums for younger drivers can be very costly and this effectively prices them out of the market. The problem is that this doesn’t prevent them from driving – so they become one of the one in twenty that drive around uninsured. We would like to see more effort from some insurance companies to attract younger drivers and make their policies affordable for younger drivers. For example, pay as you drive schemes for low mileage drivers and drivers on low incomes.
We also support initiatives such as Pass Plus and Max Driver, with more generous discounts for younger drivers who take extra driver training.
So in summary, we are calling for:
• Higher rates of prosecution for uninsured drivers and appropriate sentences to act as a deterrent.
• Greater use of technology, to help catch them. For example, use the Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to catch them red handed.
• More visible police presence
• More initiatives from the insurance industry to encourage young drivers to pay for car insurance.
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Filed under Finances by on Dec 4th, 2008. Comment.
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