Motorists in Northern Ireland and beyond are increasingly aware that cutting carbon emissions will help trim the cost of their car insurance policy, but vehicle owners in Scotland have been given an innovative lesson in so-called eco-driving to help boost their green credentials.

Environmental organisation the Energy Saving Trust held its two-day event in Hamilton last week, letting motorists in the area try out its eco-driving simulator and learn how to reduce their fuel costs and cut their carbon emissions.

According to data from the Energy Saving Trust, motorists in Scotland could save between £200 and £250 per year on fuel costs by following the principles of eco-driving.

Michaela Wright from bank and car insurance provider first direct, whose staff were some of the individuals to try the simulator, affirmed that boosting awareness of the price of wasted energy was a key benefit of the event.

"The eco-driving simulator is a great opportunity for our staff to help them change their driving behaviour and reduce the impact on valuable resources," she added.

Research suggests that £370 million per year and 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide could be saved if all motorists in Scotland switched to greener driving.

Car insurance customers in Northern Ireland may want to avail of an offer of free cover from Direct Line as it's revealed households in the region have the highest weekly spend in the UK.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics highlight that from 2006-08 Northern Irish families spent more, on average per week, than their counterparts in other UK countries. They shelled out an average weekly sum of £479.70, compared to £465.20 per week in England, £432.80 in Scotland and £406.70 in Wales.

The most notable categories in which Northern Ireland households surpassed the rest of the UK were food and non-alcoholic drink and clothing and footwear.

From now until the end of March, motorists in Northern Ireland can benefit from 52 days of free car insurance cover from Direct Line – an offer aimed at helping cash-strapped drivers tackle their finances for 2010. As well as the free cover, drivers can benefit from up to 65 per cent off their car insurance policy as a no claims discount.

The offer applies to motorists in Northern Ireland and the wider UK taking out a new policy and quotes made during the offer period are valid for 90 days.

Car insurance customers in Northern Ireland and the wider UK who repeatedly break the law by speeding should have their vehicles "tagged" to monitor their behaviour behind the wheel. That's the claim being made by mobile resource management experts Trimble, who want the government to launch an Anti Speed Driving Order, or ASDO, to help save hundreds of lives every year.

The organisation's Andrew Yeoman says that 1,200 road deaths a year related to speeding are a clear signal that "it's time to take action", pointing to Driver DNA, Trimble's GPS tracking box which can tell when a driver breaks the speed limit, as one solution.

First-time offenders are given the option of a fine and taking an educational course instead of gaining three points on their driving licence, prompting Yeoman to claim that installing the box in vehicles would automatically record speeders' behaviour to ensure they don’t reoffend.

"While educating people is an important initiative, safety on our roads needs to be improved and enforcement is crucial," he observes. "Having the box fitted to cars following a speeding conviction will ensure people stay below the limit and help them get into a routine of driving more responsibly."

Car insurance staff at provider swiftcover.com have revealed they spent nights away from home and hired 4×4 vehicles to get to work as some of the measures aimed at ensuring they were in their Kent offices to deal with "unprecedented levels of calls" during the heavy snow across the country. They say claims for car insurance soared by nearly 75 per cent in the course of the weather-induced chaos.

According to swiftcover.com's figures, 90 per cent of its car insurance claims handlers made it to the office during the cold spell, though most had to leave their cars at home and walk some or all of the way to work.

Four-wheel drive vehicles were hired to collect other workers, while a handful of car insurance experts stayed several nights at a hotel to be near the office.

Robin Reames, swiftcover.com's director of motor insurance claims, commented: "Claims during the winter months are usually 21 per cent higher than the rest of the year, and the first working week of the New Year is traditionally a peak as an extra 14.5million cars hit the rush hour as schools and many people return to work for the first time after Christmas."

Many car insurance customers in Northern Ireland and the wider UK have been looking to invest in a "snow mobile" during the cold spell, it has emerged. Figures from Money Supermarket highlight a rise in motorists looking to buy car insurance for a 4×4 vehicle since the snow started falling.

According to the comparison site's analysis of over one million car insurance searches, the five days since 5 January have seen searches for 4×4 motor insurance increase by 42 per cent on the same period in December. By last Thursday (7 January) car insurance searches on 4×4 models had peaked, with over three per cent of all car insurance searches on 8 January being for such a vehicle.

Steve Sweeney, head of car insurance at the site, suggests it's down to many car insurance customers in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK concluding their cars simply can't cope with such extreme weather conditions.

However, he concludes, the advice when severe snow and ice cause unpredictable driving conditions is generally to stay off the roads entirely: "Having a more able vehicle for driving in the snow is not a guarantee that your journey would be any safer or less eventful."

Though the icy weather and treacherous road conditions are absorbing the attention of Northern Ireland's motorists at the moment, car insurance experts have warned drivers of another consequence of the big chill. They anticipate a rise in the number of motor insurance claims made as a result of potholes which are brought on by the weather and can cause considerable damage to vehicles.

Mark Monteiro from uSwitch.com notes that potholes "are a major cause of axle and suspension failure", accounting for a third of all mechanical issues on UK roads. Furthermore, he says, the cost of car insurance premiums is already going up at the fastest rate for ten years.

He recommends that Northern Ireland car insurance customers who do run into problems because of adverse road surface conditions take a photo of the pothole, the damage to their vehicle and the surrounding area (to prove there were no warning signs or cones).

Reporting the damaged road to local highways officials is also suggested, since they'll accept compensation claims to cover repair costs – an avenue deemed a better way of re-couping cash for motorists concerned about submitting a car insurance claim and losing their no claims bonus.

Northern Ireland's car breakdown services are preparing for another week of treacherous conditions on the region's roads, after requests for help piled up during the last fortnight's cold snap. Last week, the RAC revealed it had fielded thousands of calls – receiving twice as many requests as usual at one point.

In a further warning to car insurance customers in Northern Ireland, representatives for the region's water service have urged motorists not to venture across frozen surfaces. The call follows last week's spotting of a vehicle moving across one of Northern Ireland Water's reservoirs.

Though it admitted being unable to completely restrict access to the site in the Sperrin Mountains, the company enlisted the help of the police service, visiting Lough Fea impounding reservoir to warn people off the ice.

"People assume the ice over the lough is thick enough to play on," Northern Ireland water boss Charlie Gallagher pointed out to the Belfast Telegraph. "However, the ice could be thin in places and as we draw off water."

During the cold snap, car insurance claims are reported to have arisen from circumstances including drivers losing control on bends and gradients and hitting lamp-posts, road signs and parked cars.

As freezing temperatures persist across Northern Ireland, representatives for the region's roads service have revealed that gritting the main network is costing £150,000 a night – twice as much as normal on account of the need for "double salting".

While Northern Ireland car insurance customers take all the advice they are offered to ward off a potentially fatal accident, air travel continues to be disrupted and a number of rural schools have been closed.

To keep over 4,000 miles of roads open and safe for traffic, the roads service has had up to 134 gritting lorries in action overnight, though drivers are still urged to exercise extreme caution, particularly if they hit an untreated road.

Temperatures in Northern Ireland dropped as low as -5C this week, with the north-west of the region particularly badly hit. Derry's Altnagelvin Hospital has now treated more than 100 people who needed surgery after slipping on ice over the past two weeks, while accident and emergency departments in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital and the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald have also been dealing with increased patient numbers.

Motorists in Northern Ireland have been warned to expect the freezing conditions to persist for another ten days.

Northern Ireland car insurance customers who are newly qualified to drive face having special speed limits – and restrictions on the number of passengers they can carry – imposed as part of new measures to cut the number of deaths on the region's roads.

A curfew for new drivers could also be introduced after Northern Ireland environment minister Edwin Poots revealed 115 people were killed on the region's roads last year. That's eight more than in the previous 12 months.

Representatives for the environment department told the Belfast Telegraph Poots wants to make "a real difference" to road safety in Northern Ireland.

"Almost 40 per cent of the fatal and serious collisions on our roads involve young drivers aged between 17 and 24, many of them in their first one or two years of driving," added a spokesperson. "Evidence of graduated driver licensing systems in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand supports the view that limiting the risk exposure of new drivers while they gain additional experience can reduce the likelihood that they will be involved in a collision."

Consultations will begin later this year on proposals to replace the current 45mph limit for new drivers with alternative measures.

As treacherous road conditions cause the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the north Antrim coast being closed, Northern Ireland car insurance customers are preparing for further ice, sleet and snow showers. As well as affecting one of the region's top tourist attractions, the weather has led thousands of people to have problems with their water supply, though normality is now said to have returned.

Readings taken at the Armagh Observatory highlight that last month was the coldest December in almost 30 years, with the coldest average measurement recorded since 1981. Northern Ireland motorists have been told to expect snow showers across the country tonight, with widespread sharp frost.

According to forecasters, car insurance customers in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole are facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, with conditions set to cause "widespread, persistent and severe" problems this week.

Stephen Davenport from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, warns of "significant or even major difficulties" with transport: "Heavy snow showers or more widespread snow will continue to move across northern and eastern areas of Britain, bringing further accumulations of several centimetres in places and causing notable disruptions."