NEW figures suggest that drivers in Nottingham are among the worst in the country.
According to Government figures, motorists in Nottingham have more accidents than those in any other city in the country, outside London.
The number of accidents in Nottingham is twice the national average.
For every 1,000 registered vehicles in the city, there are an average of 9.5 accidents, says the research, while the overall national average is 4.7.
Experts say the figures could be down to the number of inexperienced drivers within Nottingham's young population.
Changes to the road layout during development and resulting temporary signage are also believed to be possible reasons for the high figure.
The data could mean Nottingham drivers pay more for their insurance than other cities, according to an industry expert.
Nottingham City Council, which manages the city road network, said drivers should pay more attention to figures which show the number of people hurt in accidents is going down.
Insurance company Staveley Head highlighted the figures as part of an England-wide study using Department for Transport statistics from 2010 – the most recent year available.
Its study puts Nottingham's rate of an average of 9.5 incidents per 1,000 ahead of Manchester in second at 9.3 and Liverpool in third with 8.7.
Peter Murphy, principal lecturer in public service management at Nottingham Business School, said he was not surprised by the numbers. He said: "Nottingham is the second youngest part of the country at an average age of 29.4 years and we have 60,000 students who are inexperienced drivers."
This combined with a city boundary which includes a high number of junctions, new developments and resulting road layout changes could be behind the number, he said.
Mr Murphy added: "If you think about these factors it is not surprising at all.
"But inevitably the number will fall as the amount of change in the city which we've seen slows."
Graeme Trudgill, head of corporate affairs at the British Insurance Brokers Association, said: "Every insurance company is always analysing statistics like this – studies like this are a factor and will have an impact (on premiums)."
Drivers in the city said they were not surprised by the figures
James Denby, 22, of Clifton, said: "Nottingham can be a horrible place to drive – it's always really busy, and the road system is really hard to navigate."
Sarah Graham, 36, who lives in Mansfield but regularly travels into Nottingham, said: "People can be very reckless when they are driving around here. They will do things like suddenly change lane when they are not meant to, which is dangerous, so the figures don't really surprise me."
The incidents include all accidents that happen in the city, including those involving cars registered outside the city.
The company also used data from 2005 to 2010 to identify the roads in the city with the highest number of incidents.
They are Mansfield Road with 176 incidents, Parliament Street with 78 and Maid Marian Way with 49.
Nottingham City Council's traffic control and safety manager Francis Ashton said: "This statistic is only meaningful to an insurance company trying to drum up business."
The number of people killed and seriously injured on the city's roads have fallen by half, from an average of 260 to 138, between 2000 and 2010.
The county has a rate of 4.7 accidents per 1,000 vehicles.
Suzanne Heydon, Notts County Council's group manager for highway safety, said it carried out improvement schemes every year to try to ensure Nottinghamshire's roads are "kept as safe as possible."
source: thisisnottingham.co.uk
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