Northumberland has the iciest roads in England, new data reveals

The research by A-Plan Insurance compared data on more than 84,000 road accidents occurring in England throughout 2020, to find the area with the most incidents that occurred on snow or icy road conditions.

Northumberland was top on the list, with more than one in 50 crashes (3%) occurring on icy or snowy roads – the area with the highest proportion of this type of incident.

Twelve of the 403 recorded road incidents in Northumberland occurred during cold weather conditions, where roads were made more dangerous to drive on, despite seeing an 18.9% decrease from the previous year.

Cheshire East and Devon were close behind however, each with 2.9% of annual road incidents occurring on icy roads.

Cheshire East was revealed to have seen 15 of its 514 accidents during wintry road conditions while Devon had more than double this number, accounting for 34 of its total 1,190 incidents.

Lancashire had the highest number overall, with 36 road accidents throughout the year taking place on icy roads. This was not enough to take it to the top of the list, as it only accounted for 2% of its total 1,840 incidents.

Some areas of England were fortunate to escape the effects of the winter weather on their travels, however.

Twenty one out of the 152 areas revealed no accidents as a result of snow or ice.

A spokesperson from A-Plan Insurance said: “North-eastern counties experience a dip in temperature over winter, as they are hit by winds from the Arctic Ocean, which is one possible explanation as to why Northumberland saw the highest proportion of incidents on icy roads.

“In southwest England, counties of Devon and Dorset appear to buck the trend, also featuring high up on the list. This is possibly due to more rural roads experiencing lower volume of traffic, that would otherwise melt icy road conditions more quickly.

“We would advise road users to be mindful of how the weather will affect their travels, allowing sufficient time to reach their destination, in order to mitigate the risk to themselves and other drivers.”