The survey by traffic psychologist Adriaan Heino revealed that cars with cold weather tyres were involved in significantly less accidents during winter than those which remained on "summer" tyres.

Mr Heino studied 25,000 insurance claims made via insurer Centraal Beheer Achmea. He found that cars fitted with summer tyres experienced a 32% increase in claims over winter, compared with just 12% for vehicles with cold weather tyres.

Chris Hufflett, group operations director of ATS Euromaster, says the results are particularly noteworthy given that the Netherlands shares a similar climate to the UK and was the last major European country to start fitting seasonal tyres on a large scale.

Mr Hufflett said: 'There is still a misconception in the UK that cold weather tyres are only designed for driving on snow and ice, but the actual benefits are noticeable as soon as the temperature drops to seven degrees Celsius or below. For the majority of the UK, just like in the Netherlands, that's the typical average temperature from mid-November until late-March.

'Dutch motorists have embraced cold weather tyres and the feedback we receive from drivers is excellent.  Last year Euromaster fitted more than 300,000 cold weather tyres in the Netherlands alone, marking the tenth consecutive year-on-year increase,' he added.

'Many fleet managers and motorists in the UK don't realise that cold weather tyres are designed to enhance safety and mobility throughout winter.  It doesn't matter whether the road is dry, wet, or covered in ice, slush or snow – as this survey proves, if you've got cold weather tyres fitted, you'll be safer.'