The top 10 motoring convictions of 2018

Following on from last year’s research, we looked at Admiral’s policy holders who said they’d been convicted of an offence between September 2017 and August 2018. This allowed us to work out what the top driving convictions were and who was guilty of them.

Speeding offences made up three of the top five motoring convictions in the UK. Using a mobile phone and not obeying traffic lights were also in the top five offences.

Top 10 driving convictions

We also looked at factors including age, gender, occupation, location and vehicle type to work out who was most likely to have which motoring conviction.

Speeding offences were most commonly reported by policy holders. The table below shows the occupations most likely to have been caught speeding this year compared to last year’s results.

The top 10 professions most likely to have a speeding conviction

The top three occupations least likely to be convicted for speeding were insurance clerks, credit managers and dressmakers. Supermarket assistants were fourth on the list with substitute teachers coming in at number five.

Top 10 cars for speeding convictions

Traffic signal offences, including jumping a red light, not stopping at a stop sign, overtaking on double white lines and ignoring a school cross patrol, were the second most common motoring misdemeanour.

Traffic signal offences: most and least likely occupations to have a conviction

And when it comes to using a mobile phone when driving, the occupations most and least likely to have a conviction are shown below.

Mobile phones: most and least likely occupations to have a conviction

Sabine Williams, head of motor at Admiral, said: “Motoring convictions carry a fine as well as points on the licence, and in addition will lead to higher insurance premiums. Statistics show that those who have convictions or penalty points are more likely to be involved in an accident than those who have not, and also make higher value claims than others.

“More importantly failing to adhere to the rules of the road is dangerous to the driver and other individuals using the road. We’d urge drivers to think twice before flouting the rules and doing something that could cause physical and financial harm.”

How could a conviction affect your premium?

To show how a conviction could affect your insurance price, we ran a quote for a 27-year-old teacher driving a 2015 Vauxhall Corsa (1398cc).

We looked at three different motoring convictions: speeding, ignoring a traffic signal and using a mobile phone. The increase in price shown below demonstrates that it’s really not worth taking the potential risk, either physically or financially.