Our latest road risk

by **Admin** Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:50 am

Lacking basic road knowledge, low on confidence and accident-prone - there's a whole sub-class of drivers out there fitting this description - and of course they've been given a nickname.

A new study on driving habits has dubbed this group of people 'Stop Start Drivers', those between 17 and 29 who, having passed their driving tests rarely get behind the wheel, but when they do, it can mean trouble for themselves and everybody else.

Research from Axa Insurance suggests that, after passing their test, nearly one in five (17%) of today's drivers in that age group will drive once or twice a month at the most with around half of these driving even less than that - often with gaps of several years.

Of most concern for the rest of us out on the roads is that these 'Stop Start Drivers' were more likely to have had four or more accidents than regular drivers that were their own fault. Also, being off the road didn't appear to reduce their chances of accidents when they did strap themselves in to the car - well, we hope they're strapping themselves in but that's a question that wasn't asked.

Axa said that those who drove less than once or twice a month were five times more likely to have had four bumps than those who drove most days and 14 times more likely to have had five knocks. If you're on the receiving end of one of these bumps, let's hope you can get some recompense as those same drivers were 11 times more likely to have no insurance than the regular drivers.

As you might imagine, spending long periods out of the driving seat can give your confidence a bit of a knock. According to the research, more than half of the regular drivers questioned felt very confident behind the wheel. That figure dropped dramatically to a worrying 11% amongst our absentee drivers.

And it doesn't stop there because they've also forgotten what they've been taught; more than a quarter of those questioned (28%) admitted knowing nothing or very little of what they had learnt for their driving tests.

Never mind forcing the over-70s to retake their tests, there's a new gang in town we might need to be watching out for.