A survey by UK accident aftercare specialist, the Accident Exchange, has given a good indication of when accidents are most likely to happen and how seasonal variations can influence accident cost.

The results unsurprisingly show that accidents are far more frequent in winter and that they are more serious in cold and wet weather. On average there is 15% rise in accident rates between January-March when compared to the equivalent June-August summertime figure.

The research also found that the rush to get home in the evenings coincided with a 5-6pm peak in accidents which were up 30% in this hour when compared to the daily average. Higher fatigue toward the end of the week is also throught to be playing a part in making Friday the worst day of the week for motorists with 19% more accidents happening than on average during the rest of the week. According to the figures the worst time for accidents is actually the Friday before the May Day bank holiday, with 75% more accidents than the average.

Scott Hamilton-Cooper, operations director at Accident Exchange commented, “With a mixture of poor weather and visibility, additional congestion and inevitable fatigue toward the end of the week, it’s no surprise that the winter months experience this kind of surge in accidents.”

The study examined 28,000 incidents recorded by Accident Exchange between January 2015 and December 2016.