Motorists more willing to take risks abroad, says survey

More than one in three motorists will knowingly take risks with the law when driving abroad that they wouldn’t do at home, according to a survey by AXA Personal Lines.

With an estimated 10m people planning to drive their cars overseas this summer, the study found that millions of other drivers would inadvertently break the law through a lack of knowledge or preparation before they leave.

The research, carried out among drivers planning to take their own cars abroad this summer, showed that just over a quarter (27%) were less concerned about breaking speed limits abroad than at home, while 18% took drink driving less seriously than at home.

A further seven per cent said they were less likely to use seatbelts abroad and four per cent said they were more likely to use a mobile while driving than they would do at home. Only 38% said that none of the above applied to them.

Around one in ten Brits who have driven their own cars abroad have had an accident while doing so.

Meanwhile, AXA’s statistics showed that those preparing to drive abroad were woefully unaware of other foreign legal requirements with less than half (49%) making any effort to check on the driving rules and regulations that apply before leaving home.  

Only 49% will use a GB sticker – a requirement for taking a car abroad.  And just 24% will spend time learning what local road signs mean.

Nearly two thirds (63%) will set off without checking that they have the necessary and valid driving documentation with them (e.g. proof of vehicle ownership, international driving permit).  A third of drivers don’t know whether their car insurance covers them for driving abroad and two thirds of these make the potentially disastrous assumption that it does.

Yet nearly a third (30%) of those heading to France are unaware that carrying high visibility vests are a legal requirement, while 38% of those heading to Spain are unaware of the fact that using a mobile phone even when pulled over at the side of the road is an offence.  And 29% of drivers heading to Germany do not know that running out of fuel on the autobahn is punishable by law.

AXA Personal Lines motor director Sarah Vaughan said: “A combination of inexperience and disregard for the laws of driving abroad is a recipe for disaster for British drivers.  It is shocking to see so many people willing to take risks that they wouldn’t take at home such as speeding and drink driving.

“Add to this unfamiliar roads, driving on the other side of the road and unknown road signs and holidaymakers could find their holiday ends in tragedy – made even worse for those who have wrongly assumed they have adequate insurance in place.”