Halifax has been identified as Britain's worst area for bad driving, with the proportion of motorists holding at least six penalty points on their licence standing at twice the national average.
Data from the DVLA shows that more than 4,800 drivers in the HX postcode area have six or more penalty points. This equates to one in every 21 drivers (4.6%) living in the area – the highest ratio of any postcode in Britain and more than twice the national average of one in every 50 drivers (2.1%).
West Yorkshire dominates the list
The rest of West Yorkshire also features prominently, with five of the top six postcode areas for drivers with at least six points on their licence located in the county.
Huddersfield (HD) and Leeds (LS) both have one in every 27 drivers with such records, representing 3.7% and 3.6% respectively. Bradford (BD) follows with one in every 29 drivers (3.4%), while Wakefield (WF) has one in every 30 drivers (3.4%).
Only Plymouth's PL postcode area can compete, with a ratio of one in every 29 drivers living there with six or more points on their licence.
Local hotspots
The DVLA's quarterly release of penalty points data also reveals the postcode districts – the first half of a full postcode, such as BD4 – with the largest proportion of drivers carrying six or more points.
At this local level, TS1 in Middlesbrough has the highest proportion in the country, with one in every 15 drivers (6.6% of the total) holding at least six points. It is followed by HU2 in Hull with one in every 18 drivers (5.7%), HX1 in Halifax with one in every 18 (5.6%), BD1 in Bradford with one in every 19 (5.3%), and L6 in Liverpool with one in every 19 (5.2%).
Gender differences
The DVLA data also confirms that men are far more likely than women to have six points on their licence. Males are almost three times as likely to have such a record as female drivers.
One in every 34 male drivers (2.9%) have at least six points on their licence, compared with one in every 91 females (1.1%).
