Despite this, more than half of those surveyed (57%) believe van drivers’ reputation for bad behaviour at the wheel is deserved, with 54% thinking they take less care on the road than other road users – suggesting an unfairly poor reputation with other drivers.
In terms of frequency, RAC found van drivers actually do better as one in 146 cars were involved a reportable accident in 2012, compared to one in 261 vans. This is because Britain’s 3.3m registered vans were only involved in 12,575 accidents of all severities compared to 28.7m cars being involved in 197,388 accidents.
Statistically, bus and coaches have the most accidents as one in 26 had one in 2012 – 166,297 vehicles and 6,318 accidents. This equates to a 4% risk of each vehicle ending up in an accident, and the RAC believes this may be a result of the large number of hours buses and coaches spend on the roads each week.
Heavy goods drivers have a 1.5% accident risk with each vehicle having a one in 68 chance of being involved in an accident – 6,720 accidents among 460,616 HGVs.
Recent RAC Foundation analysis of Department for Transport statistics found the number of vans on Britain’s roads has been rising more than 2.5 times faster than cars to the point where every tenth vehicle on the road is now a light commercial vehicle. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of vans increased by 29% to 3.3m whereas the number of cars rose by 11% to 28.7 million over the same period.
The RAC research also revealed motorists’ suggestions for what "white van man" could do to improve his reputation, including driving more carefully and with more consideration (43%), and paying more attention to the rules of the road (17%).
Commenting on the findings, RAC Van Insurance spokesman, Simon Williams, said: ‘While “white van man” has been used as a generic term for van drivers for years it now seems to have become very much associated with bad driving too. Our research clearly paints us as a nation of “vanophobes” which seems harsh when you look at the accident statistics and see both van and car drivers have the same statistical chance of being involved in an accident. In fact, you could argue that van drivers are less likely to have an accident as one in 146 car drivers will have an accident compared to one in 261 van drivers.
‘Van drivers – plumbers, builders, electricians, plasterers and delivery drivers – are the life-blood of the economy and yet motorists continue to hold this opinion, regardless of their driving experiences. This judgement seems a little unfair which is why we think it’s time to give van drivers a bit of a break as well as some recognition for their significant contribution to the economy.’