The majority of drivers regularly break the law according to the DfT

10 July 2023

Recent data from the Department for Transport (DfT) shows that almost 2.7 million motorists in Great Britain currently have penalty points on their driving licence – equivalent to 5.3 per cent of all legal drivers.

According to the DfT, the majority of drivers ‘regularly’ break the law and in 2021, 51 per cent of cars exceeded the speed limit on 30 MPH roads.

Other analysis included:

• The number of speeding offences has risen by around 60 per cent over the past decade.
• Prosecutions increased by 18 per cent in 2021 alone (245,000).
• There were more than 1,760 fatalities on roads in Britain in the year ending June 2022.
• 76 per cent of these fatalities were men.

The figures also reveal an order of ‘hotspots’ for motoring offenders in different locations throughout the UK, according to the number of penalty points on residents’ licences.

Four postcode areas in Bradford, Telford and Liverpool are home to the greatest number of drivers with any number of penalty points on their driving licence.

The worst offending locations, based on the number of people who have six or more penalty points on their driving licence are:

• Croydon (CR0 postcode) - 1,870
• Wembley area of London (NW10 postcode) - 1,498
• Leicester (LE03 and LE02 postcodes) - 1,488 and 1,309 respectively.
• Slough (SL01 postcode) 1,288
• One in every twenty-five drivers have at least six points on their licence in the Bradford (BD9), Liverpool (L24) and Wakefield (WF13) postcode areas.

Penalty points on your driving licence can dramatically increase your car insurance premiums and, in the UK, you can be disqualified from driving if you accrue twelve or more points within three years. (This is slightly different for new drivers who have held their licence for less than two years, who can be disqualified after accumulating six penalty points).

To put this into context, here is a list of driving offences compared with the number of penalty points they carry:

• Running a red light – 3 points
• Using a mobile phone behind the wheel – 6 points
• Driving without due care and attention (which covers a broad scope of dangerous driving behaviour, ranging from carrying out other tasks whilst driving, to wearing inappropriate footwear) – between 3 and 9 points
• Driving under the influence of alcohol – 10 points (on average).

Contact us for minibus leasing

We at Marshall Minibus are proud to serve schools, charities and care homes throughout the UK. 

Our minibus leasing contracts are flexible, with tailored payment plans to suit your budget and you can choose from a range of vehicles from 8-seater and 9-seater minibuses all the way through to 17-seater minibuses. 

To find out more, please contact us by calling 01480 220444 or emailing info@marshall-minibus.co.uk.

Back to Blog listings