Scottish drivers are BETTER than those in England and Wales

Scottish drivers are better behind the wheel than those in England and Wales, according to an app that tracks drivers’ performance – and is likely to spark much debate among Britons.

Data collected on over 95,000 license holders has been used to provide an average score for motorists in each country out of a total of 1,000, with Scots achieving a score of 809 points.

This is better than the average for drivers from Wales (792), with drivers in England scoring the worst at 783 out of 1,000.

The data is based on findings from the free DriveScore app – a smartphone application launched by the credit rating agency Clear Score.

Using GPS data combined with a smartphone’s sensors, it can monitor your speed in relation to the limit and road type, how hard you accelerate and corner, and how hard you brake.

It can also check if you are distracted by your phone while driving.

All this information is then run through an algorithm to provide an overall rating out of 1,000 for each user, with the score updated every time you drive.

The aim of the app is to help good drivers get cheaper insurance by sharing their impressive scores with providers, but it also shows whether drivers need to make improvements in their behavior when driving a car.

More than one in 50 Scottish DriveScore users (2.64%) achieved a perfect score of 1,000, according to the company behind the driving app

ClearScore says 70 per cent of people using the driver app get a score over 750, but it’s Scots who outperform licensees in England and Wales.

More than one in 50 Scottish DriveScore users (2.64 per cent) achieved a perfect score of 1,000, it claimed.

People from the furthest corners of Britain, including Orkney, the Shetland Islands and the Outer Hebrides, had the highest concentration of top-rated drivers, boosting Scotland’s overall average score.

The driving data backs up official government statistics suggesting Scotland is the safest place in Britain to drive.

There were fewer crashes per capita in Scotland (0.002) than in England (0.005) or Wales (0.004) last year, according to road accident data from the Department for Transport.

Road organization Brake has also found that between 2012 and 2021 there have been fewer road casualties per head in Scotland on average over the last decade.

The DriveScore data showed that Milton Keynes, Sunderland and York recorded the highest density of low scores of anywhere in England – a score between a modest 400 and 410 out of a possible 1,000.

The data showed that drivers in Milton Keynes were also the least careful when it comes to cornering, while drivers in Birmingham were the most likely to brake hard.

DriveScore found that drivers in London are the most likely to use their phones behind the wheel, but – probably because of their congested roads – are the least likely to exceed the speed limit

It further revealed that drivers in London are twice as likely as Scots to be distracted by their phones while behind the wheel, although drivers in the capital are the least likely to exceed the speed limit – which may be due to the heavily congested roads .

Londoners averaged a DriveScore score of 801 out of 1,000, while enough data on motorists in Belfast was collected to give an overall average – they scored slightly lower at 798.

England’s highest average score was found in Hereford, with an average score of 823, while Wrexham was Wales’ top scorer, with an average score of 820.

Ciaran Astin, of DriveScore, said the app “reflects how insurers would rate your driving” and gives motorists – especially younger drivers faced with expensive premiums – a chance to prove they are a safer driver when looking for the best deal.

It’s similar to telematics insurance, where drivers who pay a high premium can agree with their provider to have a black box installed in their vehicle to measure how well they drive – and adjust the cost of their coverage accordingly. the risk level.

Customers using the telematics policy also opt in to have their driving performance checked at all times, which can be very intrusive for many.

However, the DriveScore app is not only free, it remains private to you and users can share the data with insurers as they see fit.