Caravanners blamed for road ills

CARAVANNERS will be heading for the open road in their thousands this Easter weekend, posing a "real problem" for motorists, an insurance company claimed yesterday.

A new survey found that nearly a quarter of caravan owners break the law, with many not knowing about the different rules for driving while towing.

However, an outraged Caravan Club representative insisted that an official study had cleared its members of holding up traffic, and described the survey's findings as "irresponsible scaremongering".

And the AA Motoring Trust also came to their defence, pointing out that caravanners were far less likely to speed than the ordinary driver, and that the biggest threat to road safety came from motorists becoming impatient behind them.

It warned that caravan-related road- rage cases and erratic driving frequently occur during the busy Easter driving period. An estimated 17 million vehicles were on the road over Easter weekend last year.

A survey of 2,370 people by Privilege Insurance found that nine per cent of drivers towing caravans, trailers and boats have illegally driven at more than 60mph on a motorway and seven per cent have used the outside lane of the motorway, which is also against the law. A further seven per cent have not fixed their registration number on the back of the towed vehicle.

Ian Parker, the managing director of Privilege Insurance, said: "It is clear from our research that caravans and other towed objects are proving to be a real problem on Britain's roads.

"Towed objects can be dangerous in their own right, as well as distracting for other drivers, if driven without due care.

"Therefore, it is vital that all road users pay attention to the vehicles around them and give those motorists who are towing extra room on the roads and avoid the temptation to overtake when it is not safe to do so."

But while about a tenth of caravan drivers break the speed limit, statistics for the general public are far worse, according to the AA Motoring Trust head of road policy, Paul Watters.

A recent government report found that more than half of cars on motorways and 48 per cent of cars on dual carriageways break the speed limit. "So the fact that only 10 per cent of caravan drivers speed is actually pretty good," Mr Watters said.

He added that motorists should focus on their own driving: "Caravanners are a certain breed, but they are very responsible people, on the whole. They are certainly not a safety hazard in their own right.

"Loads of people really despise them because they take up a lot of space. They do bring about irritation and anger among other drivers and that's the biggest safety threat. For motorists, patience is a virtue. If you are stuck behind a caravan, put on some soothing music and think about your destination rather than the immediate problem. A safe journey is always worth the extra five minutes."

Mr Watters acknowledged that some caravan drivers may be unaware of the instability of their towed homes, causing distraction to other drivers.

"With caravans it is a question of experience of driving. Most caravan drivers are not like a lorry driver who is on the roads for a living," he said.

The Caravan Club, which represents nearly a million caravan owners in the UK and offers training courses for caravan drivers, pointed to government statistics that less than one per cent of all notifiable accidents involve caravans.

Nick Lomas, the club's marketing director, said: "The Highways Agency carried out a series of trials on the M5 last year and it was proven that caravans are not to blame for holding up traffic - in fact poor driver lane-discipline was shown to be the culprit.

"Information from a survey not borne out of safety facts and records is irresponsible and scaremongering.

"Negative and unbalanced reports of this nature also harm the reputation of caravanners when in fact they are vital to the tourism mix - investing around half a billion pounds each year into local economies."

Caravans have long irked motorists, who say they cause delays and are eyesores when stationary.

In January, a councillor from West Dorset District Council excused himself from a meeting to discuss plans to extend a holiday park after admitting he hated caravans.