First time car insurance holders are among those being called upon by road safety charity Brake to slow down for children, who are now out of school for the summer holidays.

To reduce the risk of an accident occurring Brake has asked that road users slow their vehicles to 20mph, or less, when they are in built-up areas.

This warning has been released as a study from Gocompare.com reveals that, on average, UK motorists break the speed limit more than 18,000 times during their driving career (calculated to usually be about 61.5 years).

The research carried out by the price comparison site, involving 2000 drivers, has also exposed other averages for British motorists which may cause concern amongst new driver car insurance holders and their more experienced counterparts.

Reportedly, throughout the course of their lives, motorists on our roads will each take or make an average of 2337 phone calls behind the wheel, check their mobiles for texts 1292 times, eat while driving 1093 times, apply their makeup or brush their hair 363 times, and suffer 81 near-miss accidents.

A spokesperson for Gocompare.com stated, “It’s okay to use your car as a home-from-home if you’re stationary and parked – but if you’re in the middle of a journey, your mind should be on driving, not juggling a hot coffee and a mobile phone.”

All UK motorists, including first time car insurance holders who may not have driven during the summer holidays before, should take heed of Gocompare.com’s survey by paying attention to the road and take note of Brake’s warning by driving slowly in areas in which there may be more pedestrians, especially children.