* Cobra welcomes ABI's call for an overhaul in young drivers'
learning and development
* Cobra warns more must be done to ensure safety and manage
insurers' risk
* Telematics reduces insurers' risks which will reflect in lower
insurance costs and decreased accident rates among young
drivers
Cobra UK has welcomed the Association of British Insurers' (ABI)
call for an overhaul in how young people learn to drive, following
a report into how to reduce the high crash risk young drivers
represent and to bring down their motor insurance premiums*.
However, Cobra feels that changes to young driver training
should be just the start of a complete change in way they are
monitored and insured to increase their safety and reduce their
insurance premiums. Telematics technology powered driver based
insurance packages can successfully manage insurance companies'
risk and are already being used successfully by a small number of
insurers.
"Telematics technology gives young drivers the chance to prove
they are safe drivers by recording how they drive, measuring key
outputs from a car's journey in real time such as times and
distances, fuel consumption, mileage, cornering, braking, average
speed, top speed, the car's location, and journey type," says
Andrew Smith, Managing Director, Cobra UK.
"Our telematics technology is already available here and now for
insurance companies wanting to adopt this approach. It's the
enabler for making an immediate and dramatic impact on young
drivers' insurance premiums, as well as reducing insurers' risk.
Changing the way our younger drivers are trained is a step in the
right direction, but what is the point of training them to be
better drivers when the cost of insurance means they won't be able
to afford to drive anyway?" Smith added.
The ABI's proposals are a start and it is also calling for time
restrictions on young people's driving habits for the first six
months after they have passed their test, forbidding them from
driving between 11pm and 4am. Telematics already offers the
technology to impose this type of restriction as it monitors all
aspects of driver behaviour and can readily support this in
real-time, meaning any changes in the law will be easier to monitor
and bring peace of mind to insurers.
Cobra already provides the technology that powers the
Co-Operative's Young Driver Insurance policy. The insurer has
already seen its technology have a positive impact on drivers
taking up these policies.
Cobra telematics technology already powers three driver based
insurance packages. These are:
• Pay How You Drive - the better your driving the lower your
premiums
• Pay As You Drive - based on the time, distance and location of
journeys covered by the driver
• Pay Per Use - premiums are based on a driver's mileage
Pay how you drive insurance will automatically deliver lower
premiums for those drivers who drive responsiblyand pay as you
drive means drivers only pay for the journeys they undertake.
Pay as you drive insurance also incentivises drivers to avoid
the morning, late afternoon and holiday driving peaks, helping
reduce both premiums and congestion at peak times.
-Ends-
*The report showed that while only one in eight driver licence
holders are aged 25 or under, one in three fatalities on UK's roads
involve a young driver.
The ABI believes that improving the safety of younger drivers
during the time they are learning to drive can rectify these issues
including a minimum 12 month learning period, graduated driving
licences, and lowering the age at which people can start to learn
to drive. While Cobra UK welcomes these calls, the company; a
leader in safety and security solutions for the motor industry,
believes this overhaul should only represent the start of
change.