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Research into Driving Offences by Younger Drivers

Sep 1, 2022

New research by insurance company Hastings Direct provides insight into young drivers’ driving habits while shedding light on the top common driving offences in the UK. Data from between 01/01/2020 and 31/12/2021 analysing over 300,000 offences, based on freedom of information from the DVLA, reveals the most common traffic offences committed by young people in the UK aged 16-25.

Top 10 most common traffic offences for British drivers aged 16-25:

The data below shows the top ten offences that younger drivers are most guilty of and the total number of offences for this age group in 2020 and 2021.

Exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road (128,677 offences)
Using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks (56,789)
Exceeding speed limit on a motorway (33,055)
Driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence (30,658)
Driving or attempting to drive with an alcohol level above the limit (12,068)
Failure to give information as to the identity of the driver (11,631)
Driving or attempting to drive with drug levels above the specified limit (10,529)
Driving without due care and attention (6,426)
Driving while disqualified by order of the court (5,228)
Using a vehicle with defective tyre(s) (4,420)

40% of driving offences by young people are related to speeding

The data shows that young drivers make the mistake of driving too fast on public roads and motorways, with each of these offences appearing in the ten most common traffic offences for young British drivers. Exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road accounts for almost 40% of the top traffic offences for those aged 16-25, making it the most common offence. Combined with motorway speeding, the research shows that half of all driving violations by this age group are due to driving too fast.

Borrowing a car without insurance catches out close to 57,000 young drivers

The second most common offence identified in the research was using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks. There were 56,789 of these offences by young drivers in 2020 and 2021.

Over 30,000 young drivers caught without a licence

The data shows almost one in 10 young drivers are too impatient to hit the roads, with driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence highlighted as another common offence. This issue is particularly prevalent amongst the younger age groups, accounting for 36.02% of offences for drivers aged 16, becoming less of an issue for those aged 25 (6.87%).

Drug and alcohol-related traffic offences are amongst the most common

The top ten traffic offences from the new research revealed 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. That’s almost 23,000 incidents relating to alcohol or drugs in 2020 and 2021.

Observation skills are vital to driving test success

The study also looked at gov.uk for mistakes drivers make during their driving test. Inadequate observations at junctions are the number one fault that learner drivers make during their tests, followed closely by incorrect use of mirrors. This relates closely to the 8th most common traffic offence – driving without due care and attention – which accounted for over 6,000 of the traffic offences analysed.

For more information about the study, please visit:
https://www.hastingsdirect.com/car-insurance/17-25-car-insurance/most-common-traffic-offences.shtml

When do the new 72 number plates come out?

Aug 22, 2022

What do the other letters and numbers on 72 reg plates mean?

All cars purchased since 2001 follow a specific format:

Two numbers represent when the car was registered

Two letters represent the region where the car was registered (one for the general area, the second for the specific office)
Three random letters

Interestingly, regional identifiers don’t use I, Q, and Z. Indeed, Z will only ever appear on a UK car reg if it is one of the three random letters at the end.

What are the 72 plate rules?

Both the back and front of a vehicle need to show reg plates. Some other key rules include:

White plates on the front, yellow on the back (unless the car was registered before 1973)

Numbers and letters must be exactly 79 millimetres tall
There must be a space between the numbers that mark the year and the three random letters
All registration plates must be in a specific font which has been in use since 2001 – called the Charles Wright font.
For car owners, you cannot change or purposefully obscure your reg. You can be fined up to £1,000 for doing so.
British cars driven abroad must have nationality identifiers on their plates – namely, the Union flag and, previously, ‘GB’ – but from September last year, ‘UK’.

Looking to sell your car?

If you’re thinking about selling your car quickly and easily before the new 72 plates come out, Motorway offers sellers a simple – and completely free – method of getting the best price when selling their cars, whatever the model.

Just enter your car’s reg on Motorway’s website and you will be provided with an instant estimated sale price based on up-to-the-minute market data. They’ll then ask you a few easy questions about your car and guide you through the photos you need to take to complete your vehicle profile. It can usually be done right from your phone – in a matter of minutes.

New Investment funds for GRIDSERVE

Aug 22, 2022

Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Plc, has invested £200 million into Buckingham-based GRIDSERVE. The funding will help expand the electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company’s Sun-to-Wheel model, which combines hybrid solar farms, its charging network of Electric Forecourts and Electric Hubs and the leasing of a wide range of the latest EVs.

“Through this investment partnership with Infracapital, we’re excited that our plans can accelerate, and it’s evident we now have the momentum we require,” said Toddington Harper, GRIDSERVE CEO. The company will work to deliver over 5,000 high-power chargers by 2025, utilising Infracapital’s investment. GRIDSERVE opened its latest Electric Hub in Yorkshire in July, the eighth in its rollout of sites around the UK.

Additionally, it opened its second Electric Forecourt in April in Norwich, following its flagship site in Braintree in 2020.

The latest investment from Infracapital follows multi-million pound partnerships with financial services company Mitsubishi HC Capital UK Plc and TPG Rise – the latter has increased its shareholding in GRIDSERVE as part of the Infracapital transaction.

EImprovements on the way for motorway electric vehicle charge points

The Rapid Charging Network

Along with its Electric Hubs and Forecourts, GRIDSERVE continues to build out its Electric Highway charging network, which now covers 85% of the UK’s motorway service areas and numerous retail destinations. Over 100,000 EVs are already using it to charge every month. In the year since the company acquired the Electric Highway from Ecotricity, the number of charging sessions tripled while the energy supply quadrupled, it noted in June.

There are now just over 32,000 chargers in the UK, with close to 6,000 classified as rapid (50kW or above). The government is due to a mandate that rapid chargers should be functioning 99% of the time. However, an analysis by Fastcharge’s Tom Riley on the UK’s top eight providers suggests that only Tesla (no failures) and GRIDSERVE (1%) would currently clear this hurdle. There is a long way to go along the road to Net Zero, but the latest investment in GRIDSERVE marks them out as one of the leaders in the race.

Fuel Consumption close to pre-Covid levels

Aug 16, 2022

Petrol and diesel consumption was almost back to pre-Covid levels in May and June despite the high prices at the pumps.

The latest figures from HMRC reveal that petrol consumption in May and June this year was just 0.3% less than in May and June 2019, and diesel consumption was just 0.5% down on the 2019 figures.

Changing Attitudes to Travel

While prices remain high, motorists have been changing the way they travel. The AA surveyed over 15,000 members in July and found that many had changed their driving habits to cut costs.

Around 23% of respondents to the survey said they had been unaffected by the high fuel prices. However, 77% of drivers had taken steps to afford to keep driving, with 31% saying they had adopted fuel-saving techniques and 29% saying they were planning their journeys more by combining errands into one trip. Interestingly, only 2% of those surveyed said they had replaced using the car with cycling or walking. Around 11% of drivers were using public transport instead.

The AA’s fuel price spokesman, Luke Bosdet said, “If large numbers of people have become comfortable with leaving their cars on their driveways and walking around to local shops…then that is a big and hopefully enduring silver lining from what’s been going on with fuel prices.

“Drivers are getting bombarded with this sort of advice, whether it’s to help the environment by using less fuel, or whether it’s a matter of financial survival. They’ve now had to put this into practice.”

Mr Bosdet added that for certain journeys, people have “no option but to stick with the car”.

New Car Registrations July 2022

Aug 10, 2022

UK new car registrations fell for the fifth consecutive month in July, with a 9.0% reduction to 112,162 units, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). In July 2021, there were 123,296 new car registrations.

According to the SMMT, global supply chain issues, predominantly the lack of semiconductors, continued to frustrate order fulfilment. Covid lockdowns exacerbated this in critical manufacturing and logistics centres in China, plus disruption from the war in Ukraine, which restricted production output and supplies into the UK new car market.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continued to be the best performers in growth terms, up 9.9% to 12,243 units to achieve a 10.9% market share for the month. However, this is the weakest monthly uplift recorded by BEVs since the pandemic; overall growth in the year has reached 49.9% to deliver a 13.9% market share for the year-to-date.

July was a weaker month for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) uptake, with registrations falling 6.7% to take 12.2% of the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) fell 34.0%, cutting their market share to 5.8%.

Petrol cars still dominate the market, but sales in July were down 7.2% to 51,294 and a market share of 45.7%. Diesel cars continued their decline with sales of 6,210, down 29.3% on the year and a market share half the size of BEVs at 5.5%.

In July, the top three selling cars were the Nissan Qashqai, MINI and Hyundai Tucson. So far this year, the Vauxhall Corsa is the best-selling new car in the UK

The SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The automotive sector has had another tough month and is drawing on its fundamental resilience during a third consecutive challenging year as the squeeze on supply bedevils deliveries. While order books are strong, we need a healthy market to ensure the sector delivers the carbon savings government ambitions demand. The next Prime Minister must create the conditions for economic growth, restore consumer confidence and support the transition to zero emission mobility.”

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