Should the government make black box insurance mandatory for young drivers?

Black box insurance is slowly becoming a rage in the UK motor insurance market. As it is based on black boxes fitted inside the car and it tracks parameters like driving speed, distance travelled, time of driving, sudden braking and other forms of driving behaviour, the insurance proves quite beneficial for young drivers. The parameters are sent to the insurance provider through GPS and the insurance provider can gauge the driving pattern of the driver to assess the possibility of a claim. 

There are many benefits to this kind of insurance and the best part is that many insurance providers offer rewards to people with good driving habits. They also reduce their premiums and in some cases increase premiums on people with rash driving habits. This way, the drivers get a clear idea about the direct connection between their driving patterns and size of the premiums. In many cases, this has resulted in a big change in the driving habits of young drivers and they tend to smoothen up their road journeys. 

To some extent, Black box insurance can regulate the driving habits of young drivers and therefore experts suggest that it may be made mandatory for drivers under the age of 21. Black box provider Wunelli expresses views on this by saying that the government should promote the use of black boxes to keep an eye on young people’s driving habits. The company also claimed that drivers who have telematics insurance have 20% less chance of accidents. 

According to them, young drivers are paying around £2,000 a year in insurance on average and it would rise with the increase in insurance premium tax. The company suggested that in order to encourage young drivers to buy telematics insurance, the government should reduce tax on black box insurance. Wunelli also puts forth figures on the number of deaths occurred in the last year to prove that telematics insurance can lower down the death rate by young people in the country. 

Moreover, there were nearly 14% of young people killed under the age of 24 years out of 1,732 deaths which happened due to road accidents last year. In addition, the latest travel trends suggest that drivers between the age of 17 and 20, drive 12 times more compared to older and more experienced drivers. According to the company, the government can save millions by making black box insurance mandatory and save many lives. This saving would be equivalent to the income generated from the taxes imposed on the young motorists. 

Paul Stacy, director of Wunelli emphasised on the matter by saying that “As the UK currently has no graduated licensing in place, it is crazy to think that young drivers can pass their test one day and the next day be driving a car full of people, on the motorway late at night. Even if they have traditional motor insurance, there is no way to monitor their driving behaviour in those crucial first few years.”

Well, the decision to make black box insurance mandatory or not is solely left on the government but it certainly seems like a positive step for the young drivers. Apart from relying on the insurance they should also shop around to get the cheapest car insurance policy with the biggest discount deals.