UK’s top 10 ‘silly’ motoring mistakes

In stark contrast to recent insurance data that revealed Greater London as the safest place to drive, a new survey of motorists suggests Renault Clio drivers in London are the most careless in the UK.

While the previous claim was based on real-world data collated from an insurance company’s driving safety app, this new result comes from VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, which polled 2,831 car owners about their driving habits.

Britain’s safest drivers live in Greater London

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The website was apparently prompted to begin making enquiries when it noticed an increase in searches relating to car repairs over the last 12 months. The results trace not only the worst drivers – and what kind of car they drive – but also ‘the most common careless motoring mistakes’.

71% of Londoners and 68% of respondents from Kent said they made a careless motoring mistake at least once a week, compared to only 9% of those from Newcastle and 5% of drivers from Scotland.

67% of those who admitted to making an error ‘regularly’ (once a week) apparently drive a Renault Clio, which is quite a startling quirk of these statistics.

As for those least likely to admit to making mistakes, they drive Vauxhall Corsas – just 3% confessed to regular failings.

All of the UK car owners surveyed were 18 and over, and had held their licence for at least six months.

These are the 10 most common ‘silly’ mistakes they then admitted to making:

10 >  I often look at my reflection in the rear view mirror whilst driving, distracting me from the roads (11%)

9 >  I often pull away at roundabouts when I don’t realistically have enough time to safely drive off (18%)

8 >  When filling my car up with petrol I forget which side the petrol cap is located on the car (26%)

7 >  I forget to put the handbrake on before attempting a hill start, and either stall the car or start going backwards before accelerating (32%)

6 >  I forget to change gear when stopping at traffic lights / junctions, then when I try to accelerate, my car struggles to pull off and / or stalls (36%)

5 >  I forget to turn on my headlights when starting journeys in the dark, and only remember when prompted by other motorists (46%)

4 >  I forget which lane I need to be in on a roundabout, and find myself driving around it numerous times before finding my exit (54%)

3 >  I often speed up when I see an amber traffic light, instead of slowing down as required (59%)

2 >  When attempting to turn on my windscreen wipers, I confuse them with switching on my indicators, and vice versa (68%)

1 >  When driving in the dark, I forget to turn off my full beam headlights when I see cars driving towards me in the opposite direction (76%)

Some of those look more dangerous than silly to us, and as with all surveys of this type we probably need to take the figures with a pinch of salt.

But are you prepared to admit to silly motoring mistakes – and do you drive a Renault Clio? What do you think of these results?

Find out how much a used Renault Clio costs on Auto Trader

Find out how much a used Vauxhall Corsa costs on Auto Trader

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By motoringresearch.com