HOW do you feel when you're driving around Northumbria? Do you think people are good drivers or should they take a refresher?

Recent research has looked at the amount of dangerous driving offences to population levels to settle the question about whether the region's drivers are some of the best in the country or the worst.  

As it happens, we live in the seventh-safest region to drive in the country.  In 2020, there were 6,983 reported cases of dangerous driving to Northumbria Police.  When you take into account the 1.5 million population of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, the percentage of accidents to population is only 0.48%.  

Places like West Yorkshire and South Wales have more than 3x the rate.

Among the UK’s safest regions to drive, Wiltshire tops the list with just 2,611 dangerous driving offences reported among a population of 722,200 residents – equivalent to and offence for every 277 people. Also among the top 10 are regions such as Greater Manchester, Dorset and Hertfordshire.

The study by A-Plan Insurance divided England and Wales by police district and assessed the number of reported dangerous driving offences as a ratio of each district’s population.

There were 515,758 driving offences reported in England and Wales during 2020, of which 431,573 related to dangerous driving offences such as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, use of a mobile device while driving and incidents causing death or injury.

West Yorkshire topped the list with a total of 34,862 dangerous driving offences reported, and a regional population of 2,332,500, which equates to an offence for every 67 people.

South Wales and Lincolnshire are also in the top three, with South Wales registering 19,707 offences across 1,339,400 citizens and Lincolnshire reporting 10,004 instances of dangerous driving over 761,200 residents.

Hexham Courant:

All driving offences are down 27.5% compared to 2019, during which 711,440 reports were made. This decrease is probably affected by the UK’s fluctuating state of lockdowns over the course of the year, and the resulting reduction in personal travel and professional commuting due to home working.

The police statistics, drawn from the criminal justice system’s end of year report, indicate that 2,786 of last year’s driving offences were committed by children under the age of 17, with a further 18,462 offences committed by young adults aged 17-25. 488,000 offences were committed by adults, and 5,819 cases were attributed to “Companies, Public Bodies etc”. A further 691 reports were listed as uncategorised.

Across genders, 379,951 offences were committed by men, while only 94,472 reports were made against the country’s female population.

A spokesperson from A-Plan Insurance commented on the findings: “Despite the obvious impact the UK’s lockdown procedures have had on our use of the roads, a decrease of 27.5% in motoring offences is remarkable. With more employers choosing to persist with remote working solutions moving forward, one hopes that the UK’s roads will remain safer for both drivers and pedestrians.”