LONDON, August 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
As holidaymakers head home after the
summer, AXA car insurance claims data reveals that September 1st has been the worst day of the
summer season for accidents for three years running.
Last year saw the biggest spike in accidents on this day with a
massive 40% more claims being made than on the average day in the
rest of the summer holiday period.
And the picture is the same for the previous two years with
accidents up on the average holiday count by around 30% on 1
September in both 2009 and 2010.
This year, 1 September falls on a Saturday and AXA is predicting
that figures may be even higher as people return home at the end of
holidays on the last Saturday of the school summer holidays.
Sarah Vaughan, motor director at
AXA insurance says: "Every year we see a surge of accidents at this
time of year as people head back after the August bank holiday, or
return home after their summer holidays. Generally speaking
we tend to see lots of accidents on our roads over the few days
following the bank holiday Monday.
"However, we are particularly concerned this year that the
'bogey' date of 1 September also falls on a Saturday which is
traditionally a big 'switchover' day for holidaymakers.
"We would urge all motorists to take special care driving home
and plan their journey to eliminate the stresses that often cause
needless accidents."
Top ten tips for getting home safely on 1 September:
- Leave plenty of time for your journey. If you are rushing
you are more likely to drive dangerously and cause an accident
- Plan your route. All roads will be busy but if you know
where you are going then you are less likely to get lost and
stressed
- Once you know your route use a traffic information provider to
check that there are no major problems along the way
- Factor in a break if you are on a long journey. Tiredness
is a big cause of accidents so leave time to stop off and rest if
necessary
- Make sure you have games/DVDs at the ready to keep the kids
occupied - bored children are a big distraction
- Keep snacks and drinks in the car. Dehydration and low
blood sugar are not good for anyone but behind the wheel they can
be dangerous
- Carry out checks on your car before you leave - top up water,
oil, tyres and petrol. Other road users will not thank you if
you suffer an unnecessary breakdown
- Check your breakdown cover and motor insurance is up to date in
case the worst does happen - and have the numbers readily
available
- Set your phone to hands free before you set off
- If you can be flexible about when you leave, avoid 1
September!
Notes to Editors
Claims data from 2009-2011
About AXA
AXA is one of the largest general insurers in the UK and
underwrites a broad range of products for individuals and
businesses. AXA Direct Insurance offers car, home and travel
insurance through its website http://www.axainsurance.com and is
designed to make buying insurance fast, secure, convenient and
easy-to-use.
AXA UK is a part of the AXA
Group. The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset
management, with 163,000 employees serving 101 million clients in
57 countries. In 2011, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 86.1 billion and IFRS Underlying Earnings to
Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had
Euro 1,065 billion in assets under
management as of December 31,
2011.
In the UK AXA operates through a number of business units
including: AXA Wealth; AXA Commercial Lines, AXA Personal Lines,
AXA PPP healthcare, AXA Ireland and an independent distribution
business Bluefin. AXA employs over 12,000 staff in the UK.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext
Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISN FR 0000120628 - Bloomberg: CS
FP - Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA's American Depository Share is also
quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.
The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes,
such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD, and is
a founding member of the UN Environment Programme's Finance
Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance.
SOURCE AXA