HALF of drivers in the UK admit flouting traffic laws, according to a new survey published today.

Some motorists blamed inattention for breaking the rules, but nearly half of those who ignored traffic laws said they did so deliberately because they did not believe they would be caught or because they did not agree with the laws.

When asked what unsafe behaviours they had witnessed among other drivers, seven in ten respondents said they had seen motorists using mobile phones, eating or drinking at the wheel and tailgating.

Speeding and risking overtakes were reported by a third of respondents and more than half had seen drivers changing lanes or pulling out in front of traffic without checking properly.

The survey of 1000 drivers, carried out by road safety charity Brake and insurer Direct Line, comes at a time of diverging approaches to road policing north and south of the Border. While traffic police numbers in England and Wales have been cut by 23 per cent over the past four years, Police Scotland has been accused of waging a "war on motorists" after the number of people convicted over driving offences such as speeding, failing to wear a seatbelt or breaching parking restrictions rose 14 per cent to its highest level in seven years.

The number of people taken to court was also up four per cent in Scotland last year. Some 40,000 motorists were convicted out of 121,000 prosecutions in 2013/14.

However, Brake is calling for whoever forms the new UK Government to make traffic enforcement a national policing priority, alongside giving greater impetus to bringing casualties down and making streets safer.

The most recent UK-wide road casualty figures showed that deaths and serious injuries increased by 4 per cent in the year ending September 2014, with deaths up by one per cent. Child casualties also saw their first rolling year increase in 20 years.

In comparison, overall road casualties in Scotland continued to fall in 2013.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, said: "As these figures make clear, law breaking on our roads is not just down to a minority but endemic. For whatever reason, many seem to feel they are beyond the law or that traffic laws are somehow optional. This represents a failure by government to ensure traffic policing is receiving adequate priority and to make clear the importance and legitimacy of traffic laws."