Could you be planning a road trip through an uninsured driver hotspot? Or perhaps you already live in one of the least-insured places in England and Wales.

Temporary car insurance provider Tempcover have used Ministry of Justice data to create a map, showing the worst-offending regions in England and Wales for driving without insurance.

  • Lancashire, West Yorkshire and Cheshire are the top three regions for uninsured drivers. The number of uninsured drivers per 1,000 people in Lancashire is 72% higher than the national average. In West Yorkshire it’s 62% above average, and in Cheshire, 43% above average.
  • In Greater London, uninsured drivers have caused the same number of fatalities in the last 10 years as drink and drug drivers.
  • While drink and drug driving prosecutions have consistently declined across the country since 2008, the figures for people driving without insurance are on the up. After dropping by more than 50% between 2008 and 2015, the number of uninsured drivers in England and Wales has since increased by more than 21%.

While the map also highlights positive points – namely that South Wales has the fewest drink and drug drivers, and Avon & Somerset have the fewest uninsured drivers – it’s a damning result for areas like Greater London and the West Midlands.

“While most of us would never dream of deliberately breaking the law while we’re driving, it seems there are still plenty of drivers travelling Britain’s roads uninsured.” Says Tempcover’s CEO, Alan Inskip.

“When you look at public forums online, it’s easy to find people who have considered driving without insurance because they’re bringing a new car home from the forecourt, or because they’re planning a one-off trip in a friend’s vehicle. Rather than driving illegally in these circumstances, you can get affordable, temporary insurance cover for as little as an hour to make sure you don’t run into trouble.”

Having dropped from 175,000 in 2008 to just over 79,000 in 2015, prosecutions for driving an uninsured vehicle have risen every year since, with 2018 seeing at least 95,280 uninsured drivers on the roads in England and Wales. According to the Motor Insurer’s Bureau, uninsured drivers caused over 26,000 injuries in 2018 alone – potentially because it’s the more reckless among us who are happy to take to the road uninsured.

See the full report here