Foreign lorries are three times more likely per mile travelled to be involved in collisions than British lorries, according to an insurance industry study of the risks posed by the rapid increase in foreign drivers on British roads.

The number of crashes caused by all types of foreign vehicle has increased by 47 per cent in the past five years.

The number of crashes involving Polish drivers has grown almost tenfold, from 361 in 2001 to 3,132 last year. The highest percentage increase was in crashes involving Lithuanian drivers, from 1 in 2001 to 745 in 2006.

The Association of British Insurers, which conducted the study, said that the figures underlined the urgent need for action to deal with the consequences of weaker road safety rules in other European countries.

It said that there were 45 key differences between the road laws and testing regimes of Britain and those of other European Union states. The average driving test lasts for 36 minutes in Britain, 19 minutes in France and 20 minutes in Spain.

Candidates in Britain cannot pass the test if they make a near-accident error, unlike in Austria, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

Only Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovakia have as rigorous a system of vehicle testing as Britain. In most countries, the gap between MoT testing of cars more than three years old is two or three years, not one as in Britain.The study found that there were 18,000 crashes a year involving foreign drivers in Britain, but only 5,000 collisions involving British drivers overseas. It also found that the number of crashes involving foreign vehicles was increasing at double the rate of growth in those vehicles entering Britain.

The Association said that the Government had failed to do enough to protect road users from the risks posed by foreign drivers. “As cross-border driving increases, it is becoming evident that it is having an adverse impact on road safety. European drivers have no excuse for jeopardising the lives of other road users.

It also called for all EU member states to recognise driving penalties incurred in other countries and to prevent drivers disqualified in one country from driving in another.

The study added that there should be a law requiring blind spot mirrors on HGVs, to reduce the number of “sideswipes” in which a lorry pulls out on a motorway or dual carriageway and hits a car. In 2005 20 per cent of all collisions in Britain involving foreign HGVs involved sideswiping, compared with 7 per cent of collisions involving British HGVs.

Brake, the road safety charity, said that language was a significant problem, with foreign drivers often not understanding road signs. A spokesman said: “The lack of co-ordination of driving legislation and enforcement across Europe means drivers feel they can get away with not sticking to, or understanding, local laws.

Figures published in April by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency found that foreign lorry drivers were more than twice as likely as British drivers to be driving unsafe vehicles and to have breached rules on the maximum time spent behind the wheel without a break.

Crash barriers: ten countries ranked by highest rate of increase in collisions caused by foreign drivers in the UK

Lithuania 2001:1 2006:745

Slovakia 2001:22 2006:462

Latvia 2001:11 2006:96

Poland 2001:361 2006:3132

Estonia 2001:28 2006:99

Hungary 2001: 192 2006:655

Czech Republic 2001:250 2006:870

Irish Republic 2001:128 2006:413

Slovenia 2001:68 2006:206

Romania 2001:76 2006:227

Source: UK Green Card Bureau