New research reveals the most common traffic offences by young drivers in the UK
With time, driving becomes second nature for the majority of us. That ‘new driver’ feeling – the focus and concentration needed to execute the simplest of manoeuvres – soon fades away.
Mistakes are easily made in the earlier stages of our driving careers so, with that in mind, Hastings Direct have carried out a study exploring the most common traffic offences and mistakes that young drivers make, to understand more about their driving habits.
Top 10 most common traffic offences for young Brits (16-25-year-olds)
FOI data from the DVLA reveals the top ten offences that younger drivers are most guilty of and the total number of offences for this age group between the dates 01/01/2020 and 31/12/2021.
- Exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road (128,677 offences)
- Using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks (56,789 offences)
- Exceeding speed limit on a motorway (33,055 offences)
- Driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence (30,658 offences)
- Driving or attempting to drive with alcohol level above limit (12,068 offences)
- Failure to give information as to identity of driver etc (11,631 offences)
- Driving or attempting to drive with drug level above the specified limit (10,529 offences)
- Driving without due care and attention (6,426 offences)
- Driving while disqualified by order of court (5,228 offences)
- Using a vehicle with defective tyre(s) (4,420 offences)
4 in 10 traffic offences committed by young drivers are related to speeding
The data shows that young drivers make the mistake of driving too fast both on public roads and motorways, with each of these offences appearing in the top three. Exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road (1) accounts for almost 40% of the top traffic offences for those aged 16-25, making it the most common offence by far. Combined with motorway speeding (3), the research shows that half of all driving offences by this age group are due to driving too fast.
Drug and alcohol-related traffic offences amongst the most common for young Brits
The top ten traffic offences resulting from the new research reveal that speed is not the only limit young drivers seem willing to push, with drunk driving and driving with drug levels above the limit accounting for almost 7% of the most common traffic offences – almost 23,000 in total.
However, those two offences combined (5 & 7) don’t come close to the second most common offence of using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks. Borrowing a car without insurance catches out close to 57,000 young drivers – more than double the offences relating to alcohol and drug levels.
Over 30,000 young drivers caught without a licence
This issue is particularly prevalent amongst the younger age groups, accounting for 36% of offences for drivers aged 16, becoming less of an issue for those aged 25 (7%). This impatience to hit the road is unlikely to be helped by the current issues young drivers face when it comes to booking a test, with backlogs caused by the pandemic leaving some learners with a six month wait for a test.
Source: automotiveblog.co.uk
