Motoring group, the AA, has released new figures which suggest many drivers in the UK go out of their way to avoid motorways. Last year, according to the AA, motorists travelled a total of over 600 million miles just to make sure that their journeys’ did not lead them onto a motorway.

An online route planner made available by the motoring organisation recorded around five million routes being worked out by drivers wanting to stick to A-roads and back roads rather than risk taking an often faster and more direct route. If all such routes, which covered an average distance of 125 miles each, were placed end to end, they would circle the globe a total of 24,000 times.

According to a poll conducted by the AA and Populus, nearly one in ten members of the association (nine per cent) would find it useful to take a course in motorway driving as a way of increasing their confidence.

Women and younger drivers were found to be the least comfortable about taking a vehicle onto a motorway. Of drivers between the ages of 18 and 24, only 44 per cent admitted they were confident when driving on a motorway. Of the women responding to the survey exactly the same percentage admitted they were comfortable taking a car onto the faster roads.

Head of motorway driver development at the AA Driving School, Mark Peacock, said statistics showed motorways were often safer to drive on than other roads. He added that by avoiding them, drivers were not only facing longer journeys, but were actually putting themselves at greater risk of having an accident.