Drivers are being warned to keep their cars clean - as a dirty windscreen could land them a hefty fine. We all love having a fresh and sparkling clean motor, but finding the time to actually take it to a car wash, or do the job ourselves at home with a bucket and a sponge, can be tricky. While keeping our vehicles clean certainly makes them look good (and us feel better), giving it a good scrub could also help you stay safe on the roads.
New research by the car insurance team at Comparethemarket has revealed nearly half of drivers (47 per cent) did not realise that having a grubby windscreen could land them with a whopping £5,000 fine and up to nine points on their licence. Highway Code rules state that a driver's vision needs to be free from obstruction.
Meanwhile, over two-thirds of drivers (66 per cent) were not aware that driving with a dirty windscreen can also invalidate their car insurance.
In September, Glasgow Live reported what Dominic Smith, the director at Patterson Law, the UK’s largest road traffic offence specialist, had to say about the issue. He said: “It is not automatically an offence simply to have a dirty vehicle.
"If the vehicle is so dirty that it means you cannot read the registration plate, or that you can no longer see the lights or indicators, then that could be an offence of driving with a vehicle with a defect, which usually carries a fine, unless the defect is such that it causes a danger to other road users in which case it would carry three points.
“What you do need to be careful of is if the windscreen or windows are dirty. There is an offence of ‘driving a vehicle whilst not in proper control or without a full view of the traffic ahead, which carries three points and a £100 fixed penalty. It's the same offence that could be charged if you were eating or smoking whilst driving, or driving in flip-flops.
“There is no automatic definition as to what ‘not having full view’ means, it will be dependent on its own facts. It doesn't just apply to dirty windscreens, but also frosted windows, iced windscreens and even placing a sat nav holder in the wrong place.”
Meanwhile, Comparethemarket said: "To make sure you don’t invalidate your car insurance or land in legal trouble and aren’t dangerously driving, you need to clean your car regularly. Rubbish piling up inside your car can cause just as much trouble as a dirty exterior if it distracts you or obstructs the pedals, so cleaning your car interior is just as important as washing your windscreen and mirrors."
According to the comparison site's research, seaside cities are home to some of the nation's dirtiest cars. Car owners in the port city of Plymouth admit to washing their car exteriors an average of just 16 times a year – that’s 50 per cent less than the national average. They also rank second-last for interior cleaning at 21 times a year, only once more than Sheffield, where drivers clean their interior an average of 20 times annually.
Drivers in London reportedly clean their cars the most - on average 39 times a year, while Nottingham ranks in second place with 38 cleans a year.
