From November 2023 to February 2024, there were a total of 90,852 breakdowns on British roads – an 11.3 per cent increase from the same period a year before (81,617 total). Of these, tyres have been reported as the most common cause of winter breakdowns (November to February) in the UK for three years running.
A Freedom of Information request to National Highways by motor insurance loss adjuster Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA), part of the QuestGates Group, has revealed that 47.6 per cent of all breakdowns on UK motorways and A-roads over the last three years were caused by tyre issues. In February, National Highways confirmed that there were 5,934 tyre-related incidents on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in 2021, rising to 7,095 in 2022 and 7,762 in 2023, including blowouts which led to serious collisions.
Although the legal tread depth limit is 1.6mm, only 16 per cent of the UK’s ‘blue-light’ services allow the tread on their emergency vehicles’ tyres to go below 2.5mm of tread before being changed. In fact, Kwik Fit claims that on average the emergency services change their vehicle tyres at a tread depth of 2.74mm.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has discovered that more than 40 per cent of all motorway and major A road lane closures in England in 2014 were caused by vehicle breakdowns – and 122 unsupervised children caused them to be shut too. The information came from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the IAM, the biggest independent road safety charity in the UK, which asked for the number of incidences of lane closures on roads managed by Highways England’s in 2014.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has discovered four people have been captured at speeds in excess of 120mph on roads in Wales in 2014 – with one being caught at 136mph.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has lifted the lid on the worst examples of excessive speeding caught on safety cameras across England and Wales in 2014. Britain’s two worst speeders were caught at 146mph, both by Kent Police on the M25. One was travelling anti-clockwise at Junction 5 at Clacket Lane Services, the other going clockwise at Swanley.
Whatever their impact on recent political manoeuvring, white vans are more popular than ever. Indeed 57 per cent of van drivers choose the colour white, according to the latest data published by Direct Line for Business following a government Freedom of Information request (FoI). According to the data, the number of Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) on our roads has increased by over 700,000 (26 per cent) since 2003 to 3.35 million. There are also more vans on our roads than ever before, with the number of registered LGVs in Britain increasing by over 700,000 (26 per cent) since 2003 to 3.3 million in 2013.
Information supplied to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) shows 230 people under 17 and therefore under the legal driving age for the UK were disqualified from driving between July 2013 and June 2014 including four 12 year olds and four 13 year olds. One 12 year old girl is currently banned before her driving career even starts.
It must be a new record, following a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, it has emerged that a man from Liverpool accumulated 45 licence penalty points in November without losing his licence. In normal circumstance a driving ban follows the accumulation of 12 points. According to the information released by the DVLA in response to the IAM’s FOI, the points were all for failing to disclose the identity of the driver or exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road, between 1 October 2012 and 20 June 2013. By all accounts this beats the previous record of 42 points.
The number of drivers over the age of 80 in the UK has now topped one million according to information obtained by the Institute of Advanced Motorists following a freedom of information request to the DVLA at the end of January.
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