It’s a fact of insurance life that claims will come in on the run up before Christmas. Extra vehicles on the potholed UK roads network, poor weather and stressed out drivers – not a great combination. On the upside the Highways Agency says that about 93% of roadworks lane closures will be lifted from Friday Dec 20th – good news.
Claims specialists should have their A game ready this coming Friday and Christmas Eve, according to the RAC. Here’s the word;
An estimated 29.3m Christmas getaway journeys will be made by drivers to see friends and family in the run-up to the 25th– the highest number since 2013 – with nearly half of these (14.3m) crammed into this coming weekend, according to new data from the RAC and INRIX.
As Christmas falls mid-week this year, the figures suggest there will be an extended period of ‘pre-Christmas panic’ on the roads, with 5.7m trips being taken this Wednesday and Thursday alone.
The true festive getaway kicks off on Friday 20thDecember with an expected 3m trips and then jumps to 3.7m on what the RAC is dubbing ‘Snarl-up Saturday’ 21st December: the final Saturday before the big day. Sunday 22nd is set to see 2.9m journeys, but the RAC’s research also reveals a further 4.7m trips are expected at some point between the 20th and 22nd, from motorists who are undecided on which day they’ll travel.
However, the busiest single day for getaways is predicted to be Christmas Eve, with 3.8m separate getaway journeys expected by car in addition to the final flurries of commuter traffic – nearly 800,000 more than the day before (23rd December – 3m). To make matters even worse, there are a further 2.5m motorists who intend to travel at some point on either the 23rd or 24th December.
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