The Association of British Insurers has strongly endorsed “tougher measures to improve young driver safety,” which it explained is “crucial to delivering a better motor insurance deal to customers.”
It described the urgent need to reduce young driver deaths and serious injuries” as one of “five key priorities for the motor insurance industry to deliver a better deal for its customers.”
ABI Director General Otto Thoresen, speaking at the ABI Motor Conference, commented: “As a nation of car users with some of the busiest roads in the world, insurers are committed to providing the best possible deal for motorists.
“One of the key ways to achieve this has to be improving the safety of our young drivers, who continue to make up a disproportionate number of road casualties. Five years ago we called for measures, such as a minimum learning period, to tackle this tragic waste of life, yet every day 18 young people die or are seriously injured on our roads.
“Insurers are actively helping young drivers through the increasing use of telematic ‘black box’ systems that reward safer driving. But we cannot do this alone. So I reiterate our call to the Government to work with us to tackle this issue. The time has come to seriously consider tougher measures such as a zero tolerance drink-drive limit for drivers under 25, graduated licensing, and restrictions on driving at night and in the early hours.”
Thoresen also outlined the other priorities for motor insurers, which include “tackling the rising costs of whiplash, compensation reform, fraud and uninsured driving.
He noted that, as “one person now claiming whiplash on average every minute we must seek better diagnosis of genuine claims, while making it harder to make a fraudulent claim for neck injuries. The long overdue reforms to our dysfunctional compensation system will benefit genuine claimants, deter fraud and, crucially, reduce the excessive legal costs in paying out personal injury claims.”
He also pointed out that the “latest initiatives in the fight against fraud will see, in early 2012, a new dedicated police insurance fraud unit and an insurance fraud register. And the crackdown on the menace of uninsured driving continues to bear fruit with the number of these illegal and dangerous motorists falling.”
“Few insurance products provoke opinion more than motor insurance. Motorists rightly expect the best value for money products and high standards of service. The industry must continue to up its game to ensure that their expectations are met.”
Source: Association of British Insurers
Topics Fraud Personal Auto
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