12 June 2012

More than half of company car drivers have accidents in clear weather

Clear weather conditions, car parks and A-roads are the biggest causes of accidents for company car drivers, new research shows.

According to figures from Total Accident Management, 53% of high mileage company car drivers have accidents in clear weather. One in 10 accidents occur in car parks and almost a third (29%) occur on major and minor A-roads.

A poll, which collected results from April 2011 to May 2012, found that business drivers have collision rates which are 30% to 40% higher than private drivers.

Weather is not a huge contributing factor to accident rates as a number of business drivers have car calamities in clear weather.

Amanda Mullans, from Total Accident Management said: "If companies and their drivers can be made more aware of how different road types, weather conditions and other external factors have on driving safety, I am sure employers would ensure their employees take appropriate care when driving on company business.”

The poll found that the most accidents were recorded on major A-roads(20%) and 11% on B-roads. Some 9% of accidents occurred on minor A-roads. Only 2.27% of accidents took place on motorways.

Although vehicles typically travel at slower speeds in car parks a massive 105 of accidents take place there. In most cases (17%) of incidents involved a driver hitting a parked vehicle, while just over 15% of accidents were as a result of drivers hitting a vehicle in the rear.

A number of drivers who hire cars for business are also at risk of accidents. Car hire excess insurance is typically designed to pay the excess should an accident occur in a rented vehicle.

You can search and compare car hire and car hire excess hire insurance with MoneyMaxim's comparison tool.