Motor Industry News

Drivers admit to gambling with penalty points but are warned that ignorance is no excuse.

More than 80% of drivers admit to breaking motoring laws that could ban them from the roads. As the number of drivers clocking up points on their licence for a variety of offences - ranging from speeding to using a mobile phone - increases, safety specialists have warned that bad habits are proving hard to break.

According to the Home Office, 13.5 million motorists had points put on their licence in the last year of complete driver statistics available and that was the highest ever recorded.

In the same year, 22,400 drivers were banned from the road, yet the number of motorists willing to take chances doesn't appear to show any prospect of falling.

A recent survey in to the nation's driving habits found that 86% of drivers admit to regularly committing a variety of crimes.

The most common offences are speeding, ignoring traffic signs, driving through red lights and using a mobile phone while driving. Other examples of bad, if not dangerous, behaviour included driving without insurance, using an unfit vehicle, illegal parking, crossing a double white line while overtaking and even drinking and driving.

However, while most offenders claimed their crimes were the result of mistakes rather than deliberate actions, safety experts have warned that accidental law breaking or ignorance are not an excuse.

"There are more than 100 offences that can add points to a licence and most of them are easily avoidable with a little care," said Roger Powell, General Manager of mycarcheck.com.

"Anybody who speeds, uses a mobile phone while behind the wheel or drinks and drives, knows they are committing an offence but there other drivers who don't realise they could be breaking the law or even risking their own lives."

"There are a frighteningly large number of vehicles on the road which have been cloned, stolen or involved in previous accidents which makes them unfit. Even where drivers may be ignorant of the history of their vehicle they could find themselves with problems if an accident happened and their insurance turned out to be invalid."

"A simple check on the history of a car takes just a few minutes and, along with better driving skills, could go a long way to making the roads much safer".