Press Releases
September 12th, 2008
Britain’s most boring roads named and shamed
Lex, the UK’s largest vehicle leasing company today revealed that the 200 mile stretch of motorway known as the M1 has been named the most boring road in Britain in a survey of company car drivers. The M1, Britain’s first full length motorway, which carries around 130,000 motorists every day and connects the north to the south, received almost a third of the votes (28 per cent) in the poll.
The road is one of ten highlighted as the most boring in Britain in the Lex research1, which features six of Britain’s most used motorways including the M4, M5 and Britain’s longest road, the M6. Others to make the list included the M40, A1, A38 and A14.
So what makes a road boring? Heavy traffic was the main reason for the nominations. In addition, the length of the road and frequency of driving it also contributed to the boredom.
Official statistics show that as many as 60 per cent of accidents on motorways are caused by sleeping or drowsiness2. With 42 per cent of motorists polled saying they lose their concentration when driving on boring roads, for example thinking about work, personal issues or constantly fiddling with the radio, the risks are high. Worryingly, a quarter of drivers admit to driving faster than normal when bored.
According to Keepmoving.co.uk, which monitors motorways and A roads, almost 19,177 accidents occurred on the 450 principal routes in 2007. The road with the highest number of accidents was the M4 with 707 incidents haven taken place last year. The next highest figure was for the A38, which runs from Cornwall to the Midlands, which registered 621 incidents.
Less than 29 per cent of the money raised from motor taxation is spent on road building and maintenance. However, the government is seeking to make improvements to some of the UK’s most boring and dangerous roads. On the M1 at junction 19 with the M6 and A14 for example, the Highways Agency is proposing changes to the junction layout to relieve congestion, make the roads safer and reduce journey times
The top ten in full includes:
1. M1
2. M6
3. A14
4. A1
5. M40
6. M4
7. M5
8. A38
9. A40
10. M10
Note to editors
1 Survey was conducted among Lex’s database of company car drivers
2 http://www.driveandsurvive.co.uk/cont5.htm
For more information, please call contact James Lambert, Head of PR at Lex on (+44) 7826 875371 or email james.lambert@lex.co.uk
About Lex
Lex is part of the HBOS group. The business owns a fleet of over 250,000 cars and vans.
Lex has a motoring heritage dating back to 1928. Today over 20,000 businesses across the UK, including two thirds of FT-SE 100 companies, trust it to provide motoring and vehicle services.
The company is the UK's largest contract hire provider of company cars and vans.
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