Following their driving test, the next hurdle that young drivers must overcome on their way to a successful driving life is the initial car insurance premium. Older, more experienced drivers must be aghast to see the sort of money newbies have to fork out just to drive a low-performance 10 year old shuttle, but there it is.
As a result, ways have been sought to mitigate what amounts to being a penalty on youth. One of those ways is the black box which monitors the driving behaviour of the new driver, the details of which are transmitted to the insurance company who base their premiums on the data received. Simply by agreeing to the strictures of the company policy the youth of Britain can see an instant reduction in their insurance quotes.
Some conspiracy theorists believe that this amounts to just another way of watching the movements of people, and that argument certainly has merit but overall most young people will and have accepted that as a way to save money.
Sadly, in one case at least, the fitment of a black box has inadvertently led to tragedy. A young driver aged 18 and his 17yo mate in the passenger seat died in a crash last November. When fitted, black box recorders collate information based on a set of rules for the driver. This is designed to promote staying within the law. In the case of these young men one of the rules was a curfew on driving between 11pm and 5am.
As is the way with young men everywhere they had cut things a bit fine on getting the car home in time for 11 o’clock. This resulted in them going faster than they usually would. This young driver, it can be proved, had never previously broken any speed limits but felt constrained to speed to make up time. The alternative would have been a £100 fine from the insurer. They crashed and both died. At the inquest the coroner stated that the curfew had played ‘a very significant factor in his driving’.
Herein lies the problem. How rigid should these constraints be? No-one for a moment blames the insurer who is just following industry trends but it does beg the question as to where the line is drawn. There was no give or take in the curfew. A half hour period of grace and this accident would most likely have been avoided.
This form of telematics based motor insurance has definitely helped to improve driving standards amongst the young. There is no reason not to continue it but young men being young men are always going to innocently make an error of judgement. Allowance should be given to this.
Editor’s Note: Motor Blogger has chosen not to name these lads but we extend our condolences to their families and friends.