Safe Names and Safe Dates and those not!
by Patricia Montgomery - LincsMag Writer.
Date: 4 December 2009
Research by insurance specialist, elephant.co.uk has revealed that some birthdays may be unluckier than others when it comes to your experience behind the wheel, as the day you were born could have an impact on how safe a motorist you are.
So which is the unluckiest month? Apparently, it is those born in December who poses the greatest risk they say. The analysis of two million insurance claims has revealed that those born in December seem to be some of the riskiest drivers.
With more December birthdays in the top ten than any other month, and none in the list of the ten safest drivers, it may not be the best month to be born for motorists.
For the date study, elephant.co.uk say they cross referenced the number of drivers’ claims, speeding offences and traffic offences with their dates of birth and identified the birth dates of motorists most likely to have an accident or driving conviction.
Add to this in a separate survey of more than 500,000 insurance claims by the same company, drivers with the names Lauren and Luke, were shown to be the most accident-prone. So if you’re a Lauren and Luke, born in December, watch out.
The second most accident-prone male drivers by first name, were those called Sam, followed by Ben, Daniel and Joseph. For the girls, the worst accident records, after Lauren, were Danielle, Jessica, Leanne and Natalie.
So who were the safest then? Well it seems if you’re a Douglas or a Margaret, then according to this survey, you’re least likely to have a road accident. Men called Douglas were 43% less likely to be in an accident than those named Luke, while Margarets were 44% less likely to be in a crash than Laurens.
The next "safest" male drivers were Raymond, Iain, Gordon and Trevor … Trevor? I know a Trevor whose a van driver, and he sure doesn’t fit the “safe category”. Anyway, after Margaret, the safest women drivers were those called Ann, Lesley, Anne and Wendy. You will have seen that there is no mention of Patricia (very safe driver, it’s the others on the road that’s the problem) or even Pat.
Brian Martin managing director of elephant.co.uk 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."
As to the date survey he had this to say, “We thought it would be interesting to see if there was any correlation between the date you were born and the likelihood of having an accident or getting points on your license.
“It was interesting to see those with more unusual birthdays like February 29th and December 24th featured in the top three of worst drivers and that some of the safer drivers are those born on the 1st of the month.”
So the safe months? Those born on May 31st appear to be the safest drivers, as well as drivers with birthdays which fall on the first of the month in February, March, June, August and September which all appear in the top ten.
Motorists called Luke were 21% more likely to have an accident than the average male driver, while drivers named Lauren were 24% more likely to be involved in a crash than the average female.
Zodiac Zoe’s View
We asked our own Zodiac Zoe what she thought of the dates: “Rubbish, I’m not saying they haven’t done a survey and study and all that, but really it doesn’t fit with the star signs at all and I fear other factors are not being represented in these figures,” she said, “after all December features Sagittarius and Capricorn, one of the most stable and secure of the star signs. I wouldn’t worry if you’re born in December, it’s no more or less a worry for you when driving.”
