Rear-end shunts – when one car drives into the back of another – have risen by 7% in the last three years as a proportion of all accidents. Damage costs an average of £2,000 to repair.

Most rear-end collisions are at low speeds in urban areas but make up more than a third of all accidents. The figure has risen steadily since 2011, despite the adoption of collision avoidance systems, powerful brakes and ABS systems.

While not always standard equipment, more car-makers are providing systems which can take action such as braking automatically.

Liz Fisher, director of sales development at Accident Exchange, said: “There’s no obvious explanation because the nation’s roads are full of safer, more advanced vehicles which, in some cases, are supposed to help a driver to avoid collisions. However, it could be argued that increased connectivity in cars means the modern driver has more distractions while at the wheel from other technology, like mobile phones or MP3 players.”