The cost of bad driving

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Fines cost British motorists almost £200 million each year1

Approximately 1.3 million2 Brits lie to friends, family or potential employers about a driving offence received and over one in five (21 per cent) have not appealed against one in the last year despite believing they were not to blame.

According to the study3 by esure motor insurance, more than a third of motorists (34 per cent) get confused about parking rules and regulations, while a further 15 per cent of those polled said that they are unsure about current motoring legislation and what they are at risk of being fined for. Over a third of motorists (36 per cent) confessed to deliberately disobeying parking rules and regulations.

Days after a Dorset speed camera was revealed to have netted £1.3million4 in fines in a year, the poll found that one in three (34 per cent) drivers have been fined for speeding at least once, with six per cent confessing to receiving three or more fines. A further 38 per cent have received at least one parking fine with seven per cent receiving three or more parking fines.

Almost one in ten (seven per cent) of those polled have been fined at least once for disobeying road signs, followed by five per cent who have received fines for traffic light offences, four per cent for seat belt offences and a further four per cent that have received fines for careless driving.

Almost a third of drivers aged 55 years and older (31 per cent) have not appealed against a fine in the past year, which they believe they have not committed. In comparison, drivers under 25 were twice as likely to appeal (16 per cent).

The average driver will receive £214 for speeding and parking fines alone, while the average driving offender receives a total of £569 in fines throughout their driving career.

Mike Pickard, Head of Risk and Underwriting at esure car insurance, said: “Owning and running a car in the UK can be very costly, particularly with rising fuel costs, and avoidable charges for driving offences only make this more expensive. Offences such as speeding and using a mobile phone while driving not only add points to a motorist’s driving licence but are deemed offences for a reason – they are actions that put drivers and other road-users at risk.

“Making changes to your driving habits such as slowing down and driving more carefully will not only help make Britain’s roads safer, but also leave you better off financially.”

Regional divide
The research showed that London is the area where drivers receive most fines – averaging over £680 a lifetime. Londoners each pay £277 on speeding tickets and £137 on illegal parking in a lifetime.

By contrast, drivers in Northern Ireland clock up just £90 on motoring fines in a lifetime making them the lowest fine-payers in the UK. Almost two thirds (60 per cent) of drivers there say they have never been caught speeding or parking illegally.

The costliest drivers in the UK (total fines per person in a lifetime)

  1. London (£680)
  2. North East (£352)
  3. South East (£303)
  4. Yorkshire/Humberside (£278)
  5. West Midlands (£268)
  6. East Midlands (£264)
  7. Eastern (£262)
  8. North West (£233)
  9. South West (£208)
  10. Scotland (£198)

Gender differences
Men clock up £344 worth of motoring fines in a lifetime – over £100 more than female motorists who receive an average of £210. Speeding and illegal parking came top of the motoring offences that generated the most fines for both sexes.

A quarter of women (25 per cent) admitted that they had been caught speeding, compared to almost half of men (46 per cent). As a result, male drivers will pay £152 on average for speeding offences throughout their driving career, while female drivers will pay just over half at £79.

Men also pay more for parking illegally, with the average male driver paying £111, while female drivers pay £75, with 44 per cent of male drivers deliberately disobeying parking laws, compared to just 27 per cent of female drivers.

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esure’s press contacts:

For further information please contact the esure press office at Mischief PR on 020 7100 9999 or email esure@mischiefpr.com

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Notes to Editors:

  1. 189,735,119.96. Calculated by average total fines per driver in a lifetime (50 years) ÷ 50 x total numbers of drivers in the UK based on DfT Transport Statistics 2006 (£283 ÷ 50 x 33,522,106)
  2. 1340884.24. Four per cent of total number of drivers in the UK based on DfT Transport Statistics 2006
  3. esure used the independent online research company FlyResearch who surveyed 1,017 British motorists aged 18 or over from across the country between 8th and 15th June 2010. Fly Research is an online market research company. Its researchers are members of the MRS and Esomar, and abide by their guidelines. Further information at www.flyresearch.com.
  4. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3044975/Greedy-Gatso-on-safe-road-row.html