Map of European countries with the most toxic drivers

A new study found the most toxic drivers in Europe are in the Czech Republic.

The Eco Experts, a UK-based solar and home improvements site, has released a new study looking at the contribution of toxic emissions by drivers in 25 countries in Europe.

The study cross-references data for the percentage of alternative fuel cars, average age of vehicle, number of vehicles per 1,000 people and ambient air pollution.

Combining the individual results, the study found that the Czech Republic is the worst contender for air pollution.

One of the reasons for this is that they have poor quality cars; in fact, the average age of a car in the Czech Republic is 14 years – six years more than the British average.

Here’s a graph that Eco Experts created to showcase its results:

Picture: The Eco Experts

The second most toxic drivers hail from Poland, and the third from Estonia. Croatia and Slovakia rounded out the top five, making eastern Europe the most toxic region in the continent.

British drivers were found to be some of the greenest in Europe, coming in at the top ten with the least toxic drivers.

Research also found that Sweden is home to Europe's greenest drivers.

Fran Whittaker-Wood of The Eco Experts said:

Road transport is one of the biggest sources of air pollution and although our research shows that poor quality vehicles is the biggest contributing factor to toxic driving emissions, the reality is that the most people can't afford to replace their cars with sustainable alternatives because they are just too expensive.

If governments are serious about cutting driver pollution levels then more needs to be done to make these cars affordable to everyone.

Here are the 25 European countries in order from most to least toxic drivers:

1. Czech Republic
2. Poland
3. Estonia
4. Croatia
5. Slovakia
6. Slovenia
7. Spain
8. Romania
9. Austria
10. Hungary
11. Luxembourg
12. Latvia
13. Italy
14. Lithuania
15. Belgium
16. France
17. Germany
18. United Kingdom
19. Greece
20. Portugal
21. Netherlands
22. Denmark
23. Finland
24. Ireland
25. Sweden