What is the Most Dangerous Day for Driving?
Winter is often the worst time of year for drivers. Shorter daylight hours and icy roads are both factors that make driving more dangerous. But January houses the most dangerous day.
Last week we saw the most dangerous day of the year for drivers. This comes after the collation of 10 years’ worth of traffic accident data. The data looked at all the traffic accident claims from the past 10 years and found that the 18th of January was a claim hotspot.
The study from insurance company Admiral took insurance claim data from 2012 to 2021. The study also excluded data on fires, theft, or indented damage, focusing the study only on traffic incidents.
The 18th of January was when the most incidents occurred, and was dubbed the year’s most dangerous day. The study found that drivers were 33% more likely to be in a traffic accident than any other average day.
The second and third most dangerous days are both December dates, with all the top ten dates are in the winter months.
The top ten most dangerous days to drive:
- Jan 18th
- Dec 5th
- Dec 4th
- Jan 16th
- Feb 28th
- Dec 1st
- Dec 18th
- Feb 1st
- Nov 30th
- Dec 14th
Admiral says that this may be because of the increase in hazards during the winter months. Wet weather and icy roads have a huge impact on road safety.
Fewer sunlight hours and decreased vitamin D can also lead to more drivers feeling stressed or anxious. The Red Driver Risk Management’s Wellbeing Profiler from last year found that 20% of drivers felt more tired or stressed in the winter.
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Admiral’s head of claims Lorna Connelly also suggested that commuters being more reliant on cars added to this spike in claims.
“More of us travel by car in the colder months, so combine that with wetter weather and icier road conditions and driving becomes riskier in the winter. Poor weather combined with busier roads and stressed drivers, as we return from the Christmas break could all be contributing factors.”
The experts at Admiral have said the best way to avoid a road incident is to leave more time for your journey and plan your route. By having the extra time to take it slow, you increase your ability to predict incidents and react accordingly. Journey planning can also help you find a quicker or quieter route and avoid other traffic.
Did you survive the most dangerous day?
How can we help?
Our telematics solutions can help your drivers survive the most dangerous days all year round. The live tracking feature gives your fleet manager access to pinpoint location monitoring in real-time. Our camera options give up to 360 views of inside and outside the vehicle. This can help the fleet manage assess how your drivers are behaving and even bring insurance rates down.
What is the Most Dangerous Day for Driving?
