West isn’t best! West Midlands and West Yorkshire named uninsured driving hotspots by MIB

Published: 29/09/2011

The West Midlands and West Yorkshire make up 17 of the 20 worst offending postcodes for uninsured drivers, according to research by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

Three areas of Birmingham and four areas of Bradford have the highest numbers of uninsured drivers; Bordesley, Smallheath and Saltley in Birmingham and Bakers End, Frizinghall, Heaton and Whitefield in Bradford.

In August, Birmingham has been named as the number one city for “cash for crash scams”. Cash for crash schemes are where criminals target innocent road users by staging a road traffic accident and making them seem responsible for it, leading to a profitable insurance claim.

Of the 34 million vehicles on the road across the UK, 4 per cent of them are uninsured. Uninsured driving figures have dropped by 5 per cent over the course of the last few years but, MIB research shows, these areas are preventing further progress on reducing the overall number of uninsured drivers in the UK.

The cost of road traffic accidents involving uninsured drivers totals approximately £500,000 each year. The knock-on effect of this is inflated insurance premiums; the cost of uninsured drivers adds an extra £30 on to every motor insurance policy.

Ashton West is the Chief Executive at the MIB. He said:

“We cannot stand by and let uninsured driving continue otherwise the honest motorist will keep paying the bills for the injury and damages caused to people and property.”¹

Source
¹The Guardian (Sep 2011)

Content correct at time of publication