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Classic drivers get 'safest' title

It may seem obvious but it is now official. The owners of cherished and classic cars in Germany are the safest drivers in the land, according to a survey by Dresden University for the VDA car industry federation.

The figures show that the owners of such older cars, many of which have been lovingly restored, drive much more carefully than the average driver. Vehicles older than 30 years make up just 0.9% of the cars on German roads but are involved in only 0.1% of accidents.

CLEAN RECORD

About 36% of cars in Germany are less than four years old and the drivers of these account for 31% of all road accidents.

The clean accident record of classic car drivers becomes even more apparent when road injury statistics are taken into account. Per 100 000 registered cars, only 91 classics were involved in such crashes.

Technical defects led to far fewer accidents among cherished cars (0.8 per cent) than was the case with cars aged up to nine years old (1.5 per cent).

Experts said the outcome was remarkable considering that classics seldom have the range of active and passive safety features such as airbags and crumple zones and in some cases were not even fitted with seatbelts.

Do YOU own and drive a classic, veteran or vintage car? Tell us your secrets of safe driving by emailing Wheels24 or in the Readers' Comments section below. Get published!

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