Young motorists who are poorly prepared for driving on rural roads are putting lives in danger, suggests new research from Autoglass.
A national survey of driver habits on country lanes, in association with, Roadsafe, reveals that the under 25s are the most likely to take risks, with over one in three confessing to taking a bend at speed, one in five driving faster than was safe to do so and two thirds admitting to breaking the national speed limit.
Every year, there are around 3,000 fatalities on UK roads. Two thirds of these occur on rural roads with July and August being the peak months for collisions.
Yet, according to the Autoglass survey, only 32% understood that they are more at risk of an accident when driving on a rural road than other public highways.
Out of all drivers of all ages questioned, men are the biggest risk takers, with 69 % admitting to exceeding the speed limit on rural roads compared to 50% of women.
One in four male drivers are killed or seriously injured on rural roads under the age 25 and this is quite a worrying fact. Again we should be looking a the current driving test and as I have banged on about this for ages, include rural driving along with motorway and night driving as part of a cumulative test.
In the meantime, rural roads are dangerous, visibility is reduced on bends and anything could be round that corner.
So, to all you youngsters reading this, please, please be careful this summer and not become another statistic.
Jackie Violet