Around 10% of business van insurance holders have had a road traffic accident with an uninsured vehicle, according to data provided by motor insurance company Direct Line.
Although it was not confirmed how many of the uninsured drivers were behind the wheels of commercial vehicles or indeed how many of the victims of these crashes were business van insurance policyholders, it is thought that the data can be extrapolated to include van drivers.
Worryingly, a large number of these collisions (25%) result in people sustaining serious personal injury, while 4% result in fatality – factors which cost insurers money and, ultimately, lead to an increase in the cost of van insurance quotes.
A spokesperson from road safety charity Brake described the results of the survey as "shocking". Furthermore, uninsured commercial vehicle drivers are more likely to cause a crash than law-abiding, business van insurance holders, which adds extra incentive to increase the numbers of insured drivers on the UK's roads.
Only last week, police in Yorkshire said that there was an "alarming number" of uninsured vehicles on the roads. A spokesperson that all Transit vans, builders' vans, refrigerated vans, Sprinter vans and courier vans would be stopped and inspected.
"If the van does not have the correct insurance, it may be seized and the driver summonsed to court," said police.