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Inbuilt car safety features are failing to reduce the number of accidents on our roads, according to new research.

Features such as airbags and anti-lock braking systems are not having the desired effect of making the roads safer and reducing car insurance claims, because drivers are becoming more reckless.

The findings have been drawn up by experts at Purdue University, Indiana, who claim that motorists become over-confident as a result of having the safety features and so drive more aggressively and with less care.

Professor Fred Mannering, a civil engineer at the university, puts the findings down to the Offset Hypothesis, which says consumers will alter their habits as a result of safety features.

The hypothesis predicts that people become less vigilant about safety as a result of the features, leading to accident figures remaining almost constant.

"When antilock brakes were first introduced, insurance companies noticed that the accident rates for those cars increased," said Professor Mannering. "We decided to see whether the offset hypothesis could explain this phenomenon.

"Our findings suggest that the offset hypothesis is occurring and that it is sufficient to counter the modest technological benefits of airbags and anti-lock brakes," he concluded.

The research monitored 1,307 drivers over a five-year period and recorded their accident figures.

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