Hidden Road Accidents

‘HIDDEN’ ROAD ACCIDENTS HIT NEW HIGH.

18th April 2005

First Privilege Insurance British Accident Survey reveals level of unreported accidents.

The true number of British road accidents is severely underestimated with almost a quarter (24 per cent) of current drivers admitting letting an accident go unreported to the police or insurance company in the last year, according to new research by safe driver champion Privilege Insurance.

The findings suggest that over the last five years, an estimated 10 million – mainly minor – accidents have gone unreported by drivers.

In the first annual Privilege Insurance British Accident Survey, almost four in ten current drivers (38 per cent) said they had been involved in a motoring incident of some form in 2004, compared to the 13 per cent recorded in official government figures.

The majority of 2004’s ‘hidden accidents’, it seems, were minor incidents with almost half (47 per cent) occurring while a vehicle was car parked, such as losing a wing mirror (experienced by 11 per cent of those drivers who failed to report such incidents) or smashing a light (4 per cent). However, in some cases, severe accidents which involved a car being written off (3 per cent of current drivers who didn’t report incidences) or even a person being slightly injured (2 per cent) went unreported.

Even when minor damage is incurred, a quarter of current drivers who only experienced minor damage in 2004 spent money fixing the problem and two per cent had to take time off work to sort out repairs.

Almost half of all drivers in the South West had an incident in 2004 and were found to be most likely to let accidents go unreported, the Privilege research reveals. Those in the North East were the most likely to inform the authorities of the incident and Scots were least likely to have an incident. (See notes to editors for full regional statistics).

Of those failing to report an accident to the police in 2004, seven in ten (71 per cent) said it was ....cont/

because they didn’t feel it was a serious enough matter, while a quarter felt they didn’t have to as no-one was hurt. For a significant minority (two per cent), it was the shame or embarrassment of having had an accident that prevented them from informing the police.

Ian Parker, Managing Director of Privilege Insurance, said:

"Our new research paints a worrying picture of accidents involving Britain’s vehicles where minor accidents and incidents are viewed by drivers as too insignificant to report. We hope that by undertaking this research annually, and highlighting the results, we will be able to provide advice to help road users avoid common incidents and reduce the real number of accidents on Britain’s roads."

“We acknowledge that some drivers said that they didn’t report accidents because they wanted to protect their no claims discount. But many insurers, including Privilege, offer a no claims discount protection which means that suffering a minor incident needn’t affect a premium.”

Privilege has compiled five top tips to help drivers avoid minor accidents:

Drive slowly and keep within the speed limit – driving on a dry road at 20mph will still take you three car lengths to stop. On a wet or muddy road, double the stopping distance.
Always use indicators, even when driving slowly, such as in car parks.
Avoid reversing out of parking spaces and look carefully. Try to choose ‘pull-through’ spaces (where two rows of cars are parked facing each other, look for two connected spots so that you can end up facing the direction you will drive away in).
When parallel parking, err on the side of caution and judge your position visually (avoid knocking the vehicles in front or back or the curb).
When night-time parking, face your car with the direction of traffic flow, unless in a specified parking space.

Privilege specialises in offering highly competitive insurance for safe drivers, ....cont/

Direct Line customers to benefit
Direct Line customers to benefit from new ‘matched’ no claims bonus. 05/04/2006 Direct Line has launched a new benefit that will allow motorists to match their NCD on subsequent cars that are insured with the company. The policy...read more

with a guarantee to beat renewal quotes for any driver with 4 years + no claims discount. For a competitive Privilege quote, visit Privilege Car Insurance

Notes

This news story applies to England, Scotland & Wales only.

The research was carried out online between 18th -21st March 2005. YouGov interviewed a total of 2,124 UK adults. Results were weighted to be representative of the GB population

Of those interviewed who said they were drivers, 38% were involved in an accident or incident during 2004 and of these, 64% did not report the incident to either the police or their insurance company (11% of respondents reported it to both, 21% to the insurance company only and 5% to the police alone). In pure numbers, 610 of all respondents had an accident in 2004. 64% of 610 is 390, divided by total drivers (1602) = 24.36%.

Sample now includes drivers past and present who have been involved in an incident in the past five years. The adult GB population is 44,020,057 (Census 2001). Of these, 75% currently drive (33,015,043). 33,015,043 x 24.36% = 8,045,613. In addition, those who were not drivers or were drivers who did not report any accidents occurring in 2004 were asked if, in the last five years, they had failed to report an incident involving their vehicle at any time (i.e. 1581 of all respondents, or 74 per cent of the total GB population = 32,766,342). Of these, 8% had failed to report an accident to the police or the insurance company. This means that 2,621,307 additional people in the UK have failed to report an accident to the police and the insurance companies over the last five years (excepting 2004). 2,621,307 + 8,045,613 = 10,666,920 people have been involved in at least one motor accident which has gone unreported over the last five years.

From Oct 02 – Sep 03 total number of accidents recorded by the Department for Transport stood at 218,636. From Oct 03 – Sep 04, the number was 209,580 (a reduction of 4 per cent). For the...cont/

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whole of 2003, the figure was 214,000. If the projected decrease continues into the fourth quarter of 2004, the number of accidents in 2004 will be recorded at 205,440. In addition, the number of insurance claims per year is roughly 4.25million, according to the last available data – which is relatively stable on a year by year basis. Department For Transport Sources:

Road casualties in Great Britain 2003

Road casualties in Great Britain 2004

Collation of motor insurance figures: 1996-2002

So to give the highest number of accidents recorded in official statistics: 205,440 + 4,250,000= 4,455,440 divided by 33,015,043 = 0.1350 = 13.5%

Sources:
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk, http://www.bbc.co.uk/motoring/ontheroad/safedriving/countryroads.shtml,
http://www.smartmotorist.com/prk/prk.htm,
http://www.hertsdirect.org/roadtrans/rsu/driving/advice/driverhb/driverhbpark/