With poor windscreen visibility linked to an estimated 40 road deaths and 600 serious injuries a year, road safety charity Brake and Autoglass are urging drivers to keep a clean and safe windscreen.

As part of the campaign  Autoglass is giving away free Bosch wipers with windscreen repair and replacement services until March 27, 2013.

Most manufacturers recommend replacing windscreen wipers every 12 months. However, on average UK motorists only replace every four years.

Not only is this a risk to safety, but VOSA information has shown that as many as 12% of MOT failures involve the vehicle’s wipers, that’s 1.2 million vehicles a year.

The costs to fleets of MOT failure or a crash compared to the cost of wipers makes replacement a simple choice.

Ellen Booth, senior campaigns officer at Brake, said: “Simple repairs save lives. With one in ten motorists reporting that they can’t be bothered to fix faulty wipers we are fully behind any campaign that encourages motorists to think about car safety. This offer is more than just free windscreen wipers. It highlights the need to take road visibility seriously, and shows how easy it is to make a big difference to safer driving.”

Jeremy Rochfort, national sales manager at Autoglass, added: “Effective windscreen wipers are an essential part of safe driving.  At Autoglass safety is paramount and if just one pair of wipers we give away helps to prevent a serious road traffic incident, the whole activity will be worth it.”