Insurethebox slams ABI's mooted night driving ban

The ABI’s proposal to ban drivers under 25 from driving between 11pm and 4am is not the best way to cut the number of serious accidents, according to Insurethebox chief executive Mike Brockman (pictured).

The proposals form part of the ABI’s ‘Improving the safety of young drivers’ initiative, launched this month.

Brockman said: “Motorists of all ages are more likely to have serious accidents when they drive at night, though young drivers get more attention as they are more likely to go out during the evening and early hours.

“Experience shows that the way to get young people to improve is to educate and incentivise them to do so – something that is uniquely possible if you use telematics.

“After analysing 350 million miles of our motoring data, we have found that young drivers are 75% less likely to cause an accident 11 months after taking out their Insurethebox policy,” he said.

Brockman added that telematics boxes could also save lives by automatically calling the emergency services after an accident.

He said: “The idea of a ban is especially unfair on young women drivers, who are much less accident-prone than their male counterparts, whatever time of day or night they go out. But we do support the ABI’s proposal to restrict the number of passengers that young people are allowed to carry. Our data show clearly that distractions from other passengers are a major cause of accidents among young people.”

The Insurethebox boss said his firm believed that speed is the main cause of serious accidents, and that the speed limit should be reduced at night to cut the number of fatal car crashes.