Van drivers pursuing their trade in and around the Wiltshire town of Swindon may find themselves getting lower commercial vehicle insurance quotes in the future as the town has been identified as the safest place in the UK for motorists.
In a nationwide survey based on figures supplied by the Department for Transport, insurance experts have discovered Swindon, which has a rate of just 2 accidents per thousand vehicles registered in the town, is the safest place in England. All the more surprising when one considers they were the first town in England to turn off their speed cameras.
It appears that the council’s decision to invest in alternative measures to improve road safety rather than the cameras hated by many motorists has been a roaring success. In the 6 months after the static cameras were switched off, not one major accident was reported in the town. A spokesman for the Taxpayers Alliance who has vigorously campaigned for the removal of speed cameras said: “This is more evidence that speed cameras are not the answer to making Britain’s roads safer. The cameras result in fines that represent a significant burden on drivers on the basis of how fast they are driving on one stretch of road, but we need a broader, more effective approach to road safety policy. Local authorities should follow Swindon’s example and move to focus on other road safety measures aside from speed.”
Further inspection of the report shows that van drivers in London are 45 times more liable to have a traffic accident of some kind as the capital came out worst in the report with 90 vehicles per thousand vehicles registered. Other good performers proved to be Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire while the worst provincial city turned out to be Nottingham.