Co-op are launching a brand new online tool called Hazard Hotspots in time for Black Friday. With an increase of incidents on the road of 18% anticipated coming up this Friday, based on Co-op Insurance‘s claims data, this could prove to be a very useful tool indeed.
Hazard Hotspots is essentially an interactive map that alerts drivers to the number of incident hotspots on their route. Simply input the postcode of where you’re travelling from and where you’re travelling to and it will show the collisions on the route reported to the police and will give an exact location of where they are.
With a tool like Hazard Hotspots, drivers in areas where reported collisions are high can adjust their plans and change routes to find the safest roads and take extra care when driving. Routes are colour coded, ranging from yellow to orange to red, depending on the number of collisions reported to the authorities across England in the past year.
The region with the most reported collisions is London with 25,157 incidents reported in the last year. In the South East the total was 22,179 and 13,497 were reported in the East of England. In total there were 123,353 incidents reported to the police in the last 12 months
England’s incident hotspots
| Region | No of incidents reported |
| London | 25,157 |
| South East | 22,179 |
| East of England | 13,497 |
| North West | 12,727 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 12,454 |
| West Midlands | 12,242 |
| South West | 10,640 |
| East Midlands | 9,865 |
| North East | 4,592 |
Co-op previously introduced an interactive map for driver called Park Smart, which was created to allow drivers to see break-in hotspots and give them a chance to make a safer choice when deciding where to park.
Head of Motor Insurance at the Co-op, Nick Ansley commented: “Our claims data shows year on year that Black Friday’s sales do lead to greater traffic on the road and therefore, more incidents. Our aim is to help keep people safe on the roads and our new tool is another way we’re hoping to do just that. The new online tool will allow drivers to plan and make informed choices about their driving routes, where possible avoiding areas where most incidents occur.”
Have you ever used an app or website to determine the safest route for a journey?