Points data reveals Britain’s worst drivers
New figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) have revealed the places in Britain you might want to avoid if you're a careful motorist at the wheel of a brand new (or new-to-you) car.
According to the data on the highest proportion of people with penalty points on their licence, Halifax is home to the worst drivers in the country – nearly one in ten drivers there hold endorsements.
In fact, the north of England took the dubious honour of having the top three places on the list, with Bradford and Huddersfield having 9.62 and 9.46 per cent of licence holders with penalty points.
Other locations included to round out the top ten were Bristol, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, Luton, Slough and Harrogate, the Freedom of Information request from Vantage Leasing stated.
However, London was found to have the most drivers with 12 points or more – and someone in East Sussex was recorded as having a whopping 60 points on his licence.
Rob Walker, managing director of Vantage, said: "Interestingly, the top three areas with the highest number of points holders are very close to one another."
When it came to the lowest number of drivers to have penalty points, Canterbury took pole position with only 3.72 per cent of motorists.
Overall, the data showed 2.71 million people in Britain have been given penalty points, whether that was for speeding or another faux pas behind the wheel.
Of course, the DfT is suggesting the figures show where the worst drivers can be found, but it might also be that these are the parts of the country with the most active speed cameras. Perhaps it would be interesting to obtain data on this and compare the two charts before we assume these are places you'd need to steer clear of!
Currently, accumulating 12 points or more within three years would result in a driving ban, but this is lowered to six points for motorists with two years of experience. These drivers would also be forced to resit their driving tests.