The Toyota Prius is the most crash-prone vehicle on UK roads
Hybrid hatchback is involved in 111 crashes for every 10,000 vehicles, topping the charts
Think carefully the next time you step into a Toyota Prius taxi, as the model’s just been named the most accident-prone in the UK.
That’s according to research by insurance comparison website GoCompare, which has analysed government crash data to discover which of the UK’s cars are the most likely to be involved in a crash.
The Prius topped the survey, with 111 accidents per 10,000 vehicles on the road. It narrowly edged out the Citroen Saxo (106) the BMW 330D (102) and the BMW 530D (85).
GoCompare’s data shows that there were over 71,000 Priuses registered in the UK in 2016, and they were involved in 787 accidents during that time.
But despite the Prius reigning supreme at the top, Toyota wasn’t the most accident-prone brand as a whole, or even in the top 5. Top honours went to Vauxhall, with its models involved in 62 crashes per 10,000 vehicles.
Joint second-place honours were shared by Daewoo and Seat, with 60 crashes each per 10,000 cars, followed by Mitsubishi (56) and Renault (55).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s London that holds the title as the most accident-prone region. This could go some way to explaining the Prius’s dominance, as it’s incredibly popular as a private hire vehicle. Around 12,000 examples of the model are thought to be operating as taxis in the capital.
The South East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber were the next most dangerous regions, while Scotland was the safest – with just 29 accidents per 10,000 vehicles compared with London’s 101.
It’s commonly thought that young drivers have the most accidents, but they actually hold second place in this data with 20.5 per cent of accidents involving drivers aged 16-25. It’s the next bracket up – drivers aged 26-35 – that accounts for the most accidents, with 23.9 per cent. Drivers over 75 were the safest, accounting for just 4.1 per cent of all crashes.
And while you might expect faster roads to be more dangerous, the reverse is true, with the vast majority of accidents taking place on roads with a 30mph speed limit.
