County is worst in Wales for speeding teens, study shows
CARMARTHENSHIRE has been revealed as the worst area in Wales for speeding teenagers and the second-worst in the whole of the UK, according to data retrieved from black box devices that drivers fit inside their own cars.
Comprehensive analysis has been carried out by a specialist motor insurance broker which has revealed the West Wales county is one of the areas with the highest number of reckless young drivers on the road.
The black box (also known as a telematics box) is a self-fitting device which sits on the inside of a car windscreen and tracks journeys.
The idea is that safe driving can be rewarded because daily updates are uploaded to an app to show the previous 24 hours’ worth of driving habits in the hope of bringing down a renewal quote for car insurance.
The app, called FluxScore, sends alerts to drivers it deems as driving dangerously or above the speed limit. These include Alert 2s, which are considered serious speeding events and take into account other factors such as the type of road.
If a driver receives three Alert 2s, this will result in their policy being suspended.
After looking at the data, insurance brokers Adrian Flux have compiled the 10 worst areas in the UK – and Carmarthenshire is in second place behind Ealing, a district of west London.
On average, 87.1% of the app’s users in Carmarthenshire receive serious warnings about their speeding – by far the highest amount in Wales. The only other part of Wales which makes it into the UK’s 10 worst areas for speeding alerts is Rhondda Cynon Taf, with an app score of 71.9%.
To put those scores into context, Conwy in North Wales only has an app score of 17%.
“This gamification-style approach has helped sensible drivers save up to 60% for year-long safe driving upon renewal,” said Scott Goodliffe at Adrian Flux.
“Unfortunately some users are less attentive or cautious and their behaviour is a cause for concern because it leaves them more likely to make a claim or hurt themselves or others.
“It’s disappointing when alerts have to be sent but we’re proud that they are helping to change behaviour behind the wheel.
“We already know FluxScore is reducing the number of speeders across the board by 70% and hopefully this analysis will help address the small number who negatively impact these already impressive figures slightly.”
This isn’t the first time that Carmarthenshire has been in the news due to a high number of speeding drivers. In June 2020, 140 people were caught speeding on a stretch of the A40 to the west of Carmarthen in just one day.
Further data obtained by WalesOnline later that year revealed that between the months of June and October in 2020 an average of 96 drivers were caught speeding for every hour an officer from GoSafe Cymru monitored speed along that stretch.
Those speeding offences did not stipulate the age of the drivers involved, with the statistics being based on motorists of all ages. The data analysed and released by Adrian Flux, which covers Carmarthenshire as a whole, relates mainly to drivers between 17 and 19 years of age as most people only use a telematics box during their first two years of driving.