Happiest Drivers in Britain Revealed

The happiest drivers in the country have been announced, with motorists in Wales topping the list, a new study reveals.

Motoring experts at LeaseCar.uk have crunched the numbers for each region based on factors important to drivers regarding an enjoyable trip.

The highest traffic levels, the most roads (miles), the total number of collisions and the collective sum of all pothole claims have all been analysed. Each region was given a nominal score totalling up to provide a final ranking.

Drivers in Wales have been rated the happiest across the whole of Britain, with the least amount of pothole claims, over 21,000 miles of roads and some of the lowest crash and traffic rates across the board.

Scotland is closely followed, with the third happiest drivers across all regions because of the low collision rate and the highest amount of roads. This is despite the significantly high pothole claims of almost 3000 in one year and the congestion rates.

The only English region to make the top three happiest drivers was the North East, where low traffic levels and the least number of collisions helped the area rank highly.

Motorists in the North West of England have been revealed to be the most unhappy, beating the capital city – mainly due to the increasing number of collisions with high pothole claims.

London ranks ninth happiest – with less than 10,000 miles of roads yet over 23,000 collisions each year, surprisingly ranking third worst for traffic levels in the nation.

Drivers in the West Midlands are the eighth happiest in the country, with the highest number of pothole claims from this region – 8900 in just one year.

Yet drivers in the East Mids have some of the lowest pothole damage claims (285), combined with lower collision statistics, which means drivers in this area rank fourth happiest.

Rank	Region	Traffic (billion vehicle miles)	Amount of road (miles)	Total Collisions	Number of pothole claims	Total Points
1	Wales	16.5	21,022	3,301	180	37
2	North East	11.2	10,228	3,024	226	34
3	Scotland	26.7	36,824	3,902	2,878	29
4	East Midlands	26.3	19,855	7,332	285	27
5	South West	31.6	31,420	8,449	1,782	25
6	Yorkshire and the Humber	25.4	19,961	9,083	1,438	24
7	East of England	33.7	25,038	9,232	973	22
8	West Midlands	28.3	20,788	7,952	8,900	18
9	London	18.5	92,01	23,139	1,744	17
10	South East	46.9	30,248	15,612	2,594	16
11	North West	32.5	23,242	10,061	6,382	15

Tim Alcock at LeaseCar.uk said: “It may be surprising not to see London drivers hit the bottom of the ranks as the unhappiest drivers, given the capital’s reputation with heavy congestion, low amounts of roads and high collision rates.

“But pothole claims in London are relatively low compared to other regions – the worst for potholes being the West Midlands, who, by far, have put in the most claims for damage to vehicles.

“Wales and Scotland both make it into the top three happiest drivers, given the low collision and traffic rates, despite Scotland putting in almost 3000 claims for potholes in one year.

“Motorists in the North of England have been rated both one of the happiest and the least happiest. The North West is officially the region for the least happy drivers, scoring high in all four categories.

“Yet the neighbouring North East and Yorkshire & the Humber rank second and sixth happiest, respectively – due to the high road mileage matched with low pothole claims.

“By using some of the most important factors motorists consider will make a trip enjoyable, the Welsh are by far the happiest drivers across Britain, with those behind the wheel in the North West being considered the least happy.”

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