Whats in a name when it comes to road accidents?

Date: 05.01.2010

What is in a name when it comes to road accidents?

If you know someone called Luke or Lauren, you may think twice about getting into a car with him or her in future.

A recent survey carried out in the UK of more than 500,000 motor insurance claims revealed that drivers with the name Lauren or Luke were the most likely to have a motor accident.

Male motorists with the name Luke were found to be 21 per cent more prone to be involved in a road collision than the average male driver, with women called Lauren being 24 per cent more likely to be caught up in a car accident than the average female driver.

The research looked at claimants’ first names only and discovered that the second most accident-prone male drivers were called Sam, followed by Ben, Daniel and Joseph.

The second most common female name to be involved in a car accident was Danielle, followed by Jessica, Leanne and Natalie.

Least likely to have a vehicle smash were found to be male drivers called Douglas and female motorists with the name Margaret.

Men called Douglas were 43 per cent less likely to have an accident than people called Luke, with women named Margaret 44 per cent less likely to be involved in a collision than those named Lauren.

Behind Douglas, the next safest male drivers were named Raymond, Iain, Gordon and Trevor, with women named Ann, Lesley, Anne and Wendy the least at risk of having an accident after Margaret.

A spokesperson for the company that carried out the research said, “Our results definitely show that motorists with some names have a higher probability of being involved in a car accident than others. There is no obvious reason for this, although some of these names are more common in younger people, who present a higher risk of having an accident.”

Young drivers are more likely to have road collisions because of their lack of experience, meaning their judgements can be poorer. One expert believes concentrating on improving novice drivers should be top of the road safety list, saying, “Reducing accidents involving young drivers should be the number one road safety priority. Research carried out by the insurance industry shows that teenage drivers are 10 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured while driving than motorists in their 40’s. In addition, while road deaths and serious accidents are falling on average for the majority, they are going up for young people by a shocking 12 per cent last year. We need a massive effort from everyone to end this tragedy.”