Driving away from home

Despite the rising cost of fuel the last few days may have put people in mind to enjoy a peasant road trip. Such casual jaunts may trigger a musing on which county is the best to go for a spin in.

Insurance company Chill has ranked the top 15 counties in Ireland for such a jolly with Cavan languishing in the lower region of the list.

Irish motor insurance company Chill believe they have a formula to work out the best counties in Ireland to be a driver. Chill analysed four criteria in their assessment of which county in Ireland was the best for driver.

Cavan came out in 11th place of the survey with a score of 53.8, over 20 points behind the overall leader.

The factors they considered important were: the number of reported collisions over the past year; the level of car theft; local drivers test pass rates; and the average inches of rainfall in each county.

Neighbours Longford and Monaghan took the top two spots in the insurer's hit parade.

Longford took the crown as the best county in Ireland for drivers thanks to the lowest level of car theft and the lowest average rainfall.  Drives through County Longford are also enjoyable to the eye, with plenty of scenic views to admire such as Lough Gowna or Lough Ree.

Thanks to having the second-highest pass rate (66%) and a low level of car theft at just 1%, county Monaghan is the second-best county in Ireland to be a driver.

County Laois takes bronze thanks to being one of the safest places with one of the lowest levels of car theft, only 0.5% of car drivers have reported having their car stolen.