Thousands Of Cats And Dogs Victims Of Hit And Run Drivers Each Year

Around 1.5 million motorists have admitted to knocking a cat or dog down in their car and then driving off, leaving the animal on the roadside according to a recent MORI survey commissioned by Direct Line Pet Insurance.

The findings reveal that 1 in 5 drivers (21%), around 6.3 million*, have knocked a cat or dog down whilst driving in their car and a quarter of those (25%), confessed to simply driving off without checking to see if the animal was alright or to report the incident.

9 out of 10 motorists (91%) said that if they hit a dog in the future they would report the accident to the police. However, only 5 out of 10 drivers (54%) would report the accident if it involved a cat. This figure is made more worrying as experience shows that cats are more than twice as likely to be injured in a road accident than a dog.

In addition almost 8 out of 10 drivers (77%) are aware that it is a legal requirement to report a road incident involving a dog, and 7 out of 10 motorists (70%) know that the same rules do not apply if the accident involved a cat.

Chris Price, Pet Business Manager at Direct Line, said:

"As the nights draw in and driving visibility reduces, the chances of accidentally hitting a dog or cat will increase considerably."

"However, if you're unfortunate enough to hit a dog or cat we would urge you to treat both dogs and cats alike and take the necessary steps to find the owner of the animal so that something can be done as quickly as possible to put the pet back on the road to recovery."

*According the DVLA, there are approximately 30 million drivers in the UK.

Survey conducted by MORI Financial Services on behalf of Direct Line in July 2001. A total of 2,000 interviews were conducted across Great Britain among adults aged 17 and over, who are Driving Licence holders and who have driven at least once in the last month. Interviews were conducted between 6th and 20th July 2001.