Car Insurance for Young Drivers
Insurers are developing a coalition for action to prevent the number of fatalities within young people on Britain's roads.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) launched a campaign to reduce the numbers of young drivers killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads.
Despite falls in the total number of deaths on UK roads in recent years, the number of fatalities involving young drivers is still rising. Twelve per cent (405) of all those killed on Britain's roads in 2005 were aged 16-19, up from 10 per cent (343) in 2000.
The ABI has evaluated the Pass Plus scheme for newly qualified drivers (set up in 1995). ABI's research shows that drivers who take Pass Plus are less likely to have an accident. However, the difference is small and more action is needed to improve the safety of young drivers.
ABI's Director General said that while there has been a fall in road casualties, the number of young people who die or are injured on roads is still too high.
In response to these figures, a new coalition of insurance companies, road safety groups and motoring organisations have made radical new proposals to reduce the high numbers of young drivers killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads. The ABI proposals are backed by the RAC Foundation, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, and road safety groups Brake, RoadSafe and the Make Roads Safe Campaign.
The four proposals are:
- A minimum learning period before young drivers take their test such as a one ear minimum learning period would cut road casualties by 1 000 each year.
- A structured learning program with learners or their instructor recording in a logbook time spent driving and experience before taking their test.
- Measures to reduce the number of passengers during the first few months of driving. Experience in California and elsewhere suggests this would cut casualties dramatically.
- Less driving at night. Over half of accidents involving young drivers occur at night. Some insurers already offer lower premiums to young drivers who only drive during the day.