MEN ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO HAVE POINTS ON THEIR DRIVING LICENCE AS WOMEN, STUDY REVEALS

Recent research has revealed there are over 2.66 million drivers with penalty points in the UK, with men being over twice as likely to have points on their driving licence than women. The study by confused.com analysed Freedom of Information requests made to the DVLA to reveal the most common genders and age groups to have penalty offences in the UK. When it comes to gender, there's actually a fairly big difference in the number of penalty points accrued. Only 3,187 out of every 100,000 female drivers have penalty points on their licence. However, 7,158 per 100,000 male drivers have points on their licences, meaning men are over twice as likely to have points. In total, 7.16% of male drivers have points, compared to just 3.19% of female drivers. While there are roughly similar numbers of men and women on the roads (26.4 million compared to 24 million), 1.9 million men have points compared to around 766,000 women. Rather than older or younger people, adults and middle-aged drivers are most likely to have points on their licences. The most common age bracket is 30 to 34, with 6,522 per 100,000 drivers with penalty points on their licence. Those under 19 had the least, by some distance, with 352 points per 100,000 drivers. However, it's likely that many drivers of this age just hold provisional licences and are yet to pass their tests. Following this is the oldest age group, with 2,186 drivers aged 95 and over per 100,000 having points. In terms of individual ages, those who are aged 32 are the most likely to have points on their licence. The data reveals that 6,615 per 100,000 32-year-old drivers have points on their driver's licence. Further study insights: • The most common penalty offence in the UK is exceeding the statutory speed limit on a public road (SP30), with 2,158,179 offences. • The area with drivers most likely to have points on their driving licence is Coldstream, Berwickshire (TD12) with 2,141 drivers per 10,000 people that have points on their driving licence.