ingenie: There is an Alternative Approach to Reducing Young Driver Crashes
LONDON, October 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- ingenie welcomes the Association of British Insurers addressing young driver safety
- It believes black box technology that assesses young drivers, combined with education, is a better approach than night-time curfews
- Only 8% of claims made by ingenie-insured young drivers were due to night time crashes
- ingenie helps tackle the root cause of the problem, offering young drivers the chance to prove they are safe on the road and identifying the need for further education
ingenie welcomes the proposals from the Association of British Insurers today around improving young driver safety. We support any measures that encourage young people to approach learning to drive with safety in mind as opposed to getting on the road as quickly as possible.
However, ingenie does not believe that restricting young drivers and imposing nighttime curfews is the best way to approach the problem. Our statistics show that only 8% of claims made by young drivers insured by ingenie were for crashes that occurred between 11pm and 6am.
We use black box technology to assess driving styles and trends to provide feedback and help young drivers to improve. Every three months we reward our best drivers with discounts on their insurance. We believe this approach gives new drivers the opportunity to learn from their experiences. By imposing nighttime curfews young drivers are denied this opportunity. Our statistics show that 71% of ingenie customers have improved since starting to receive feedback. We believe in educating young people to make them safer drivers.
"We applaud the ABI for raising awareness of the important issue of young driver safety," said Richard King, founder and CEO at ingenie. "While we are supportive of their proposals, we believe that imposing night-time restrictions or curfews on young drivers fails to address the real cause of the problem. Our approach is to treat young drivers as individuals and encourage them to take responsibility for their driving."
"Many young drivers are underprepared when they first take to the road but ingenie's approach, alongside post-test lessons including night-time and motorway driving, can support young drivers whilst they gain valuable experience."
"We believe that UK insurers have a part to play in educating young drivers. ingenie provides useful feedback to our community of policyholders - if asked, we'll even pick up the phone and talk to the customer about where they're going wrong and how they can improve, which will ultimately reduce their risk and premium."
Notes to editors:
ingenie is a digital car insurance brand for young drivers aged 17-25 that uses the latest telematics technology to build a picture of a driver's individual style and reward those who drive well with cheaper insurance premiums.
ingenie was launched at the end of 2011 with investment from footballer turned broadcaster Gary Lineker (who also supports the brand as an ambassador), Williams F1 Team (who provide expertise in telematics and assist in promoting the brand and road safety) and leading figures from UK business including Sir Martin Broughton, Chairman of British Airways and Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive of BT Retail (BT Group PLC).
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