What!? Insects cause 650,000 accidents per year!
If you thought a bug flying into your windscreen was a simple annoyance, think again. A new survey from the UK claims that 650,000 motorists in the UK have crashed in the last year due to the pesky little critters making contact at high speeds with their windscreens. The survey was conducted by esure insurance, which also concluded that the costs associated with all the squashed bugs amounts to $88,000 per year. More than 1,000 motorists identified insects as the second biggest distraction on the road, edged out by strong sunlight as the number one cause of distraction.
Most were distracted by the bugs hitting the windscreen, with 4% admitting they usually slam the brakes when this occurs. Another 22% of respondents said they actually let go of the steering wheel momentarily to swat a pesky insect in the cabin. Of all the nasty bugs in the insect world, stinging wasps were rated as the most feared followed closely by bees and spiders.
[Source: What Car]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DriftPunch 12:40PM (8/24/2007)
I really can't believe this... If bugs were this much of a factor, it would have JUMPED out of regional statistical differences between the geographic regions of the US.
I've never been to the UK, but are large insects so uncommon that a cicadia sized monster whacking the windshield is really that suprising?
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Thunder 12:43PM (8/24/2007)
So let me get this straight, 650,000 motorists "crashed" last year because of bugs in the U.K.?
With 650,000 "crashes" divided by a total of $88,000 in damage that means the average crash cost $7.39?
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Greg 12:48PM (8/24/2007)
You're right. There's something fish... er, I mean buggy about this.
rem83 12:54PM (8/24/2007)
I think you mean $0.14 per crash
Thunder 1:45PM (8/24/2007)
rem83
I'm open to suggestions... How did you get $0.14?
650,000/88,000 =
7.3863636363636363636363636363636
Thierry 1:53PM (8/24/2007)
Yeah - I'd like to know what repair shop they use!
kballs 1:57PM (8/24/2007)
$88,000 total cost divided among 650,000 incidents =
88,000/650,000 = 0.135 = 13.5 cents per incident.
What an "incident" is I don't know... does that mean you went off the road and crashed each time an insect's butt went through its head on your windshield?
rem83 1:59PM (8/24/2007)
$88,000 / 650,000 crashes = $0.14 / crash. The number you calculated is the number of crashes per dollar, which isn't particularly useful. Pay attention to your units.
kballs 2:01PM (8/24/2007)
Oh, fix the comments.
$88,000,000 / 650,000 incidents = $135 per incident... now does that mean the insects are cracking the windshields requiring repair? I've never seen an insect crack a windshield... is this actually about rocks and not bugs?
Thunder 2:15PM (8/24/2007)
Oops, thanks.
charliekwin 12:55PM (8/24/2007)
Ignoring the funny math for a moment, last I checked, spiders weren't insects.
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rem83 12:56PM (8/24/2007)
The actual article states damages at 44 million pounds = 88,000,000 USD.
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FLR 1:15PM (8/24/2007)
Has England been transported to some alternate world based upon a lame 1950's era movie where ants are the size of 18 wheelers due to some tragic nuclear accident?
I could understand a bug like that causing an accident....especially Mothra!
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glitched 1:35PM (8/24/2007)
Well, i Had a good high school friend that was killed in an accident because of an insect.
she was stung by a bee driving down a 2 lane highway, because of the distraction she ended up in hte oncoming lane. She then swerved out of hte way of an oncoming car and ended up in the ditch.
Only the ditch had a large cement drain manhole thing in it, covered by weeds, that she crashed head on into. THis impact ultimately killed her.
but the whole thing was started by a bee sting. :(
justin 1:48PM (8/24/2007)
my wife crashed our car when a moth flew around her head and the road turned, she did not.
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pacopaco 1:50PM (8/24/2007)
thunder, could you please carry that out to a few more decimels.
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Thunder 4:39PM (8/24/2007)
Well, I could, but... :-)
Elliott 1:57PM (8/24/2007)
I think some people make up stories about bugs causing accidents because they don't want to take responsibiity for not paying attention or driving too fast for conditions.
"Don't be a hero! You're weapons are useless against them!"
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Louis Duran 2:01PM (8/24/2007)
Wow! I didn't even know they had 650K cars in the UK.
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SPG 2:25PM (8/24/2007)
It’s all about how you react to a situation. If you have a good deal of driving skill, know your vehicle, and have an even temperament you will probably not fall victim to a bug related car accident.
This is much like when Firestone sold those defective Wilderness AT tires to Ford and people were having serious and unfortunately fatal accidents with their Explorer’s.
Road & Track I believe it was decided to conduct their own testing. They purchased a used Explorer and equipped it with a tire on the back that could be completely deflated in a matter of just a few short seconds. They got a driver to bring it up to speed and another person to randomly deflate the tire of the Explorer. At no time could the person working the remote get the Explorer to flip because of the skill level of the driver.
Much like how another group tried to flip an Explorer (they used a Mazda Navajo) with four big guys on one side. It took them, a bunch of time, and a few more guys just to get it to topple on it’s side.
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