With young drivers in the UK most likely to be distracted by more than just their mobile phones and inexperience, but ‘attractive pedestrians’, should the government increase the pressure to make telematics systems mandatory for young drivers between the ages of 17-21?

What is the harm?

• In a survey of 1,000 parents, 10% had children who’d had an accident within one year of passing their tests
• Last year there were 1,732 road deaths and 14% of them were drivers between 17 – 24 years of age
• One in five 18-24 year old drivers confirmed they regularly text/instant message when they are driving

By enforcing telematics on young drivers who are rightly perceived to be high risk, could save hundreds of lives a year.

The founding director of Wunelli has said –

“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.

“Something as simple as installing a telematics device will promote safer driving and have a long-term impact on the amount of road traffic accidents that occur every single day.

“It would be logical to make these policies more affordable by excluding them from IPT in order to increase the popularity of telematics in the younger generation but we need to go a step further than this and make it mandatory in the high risk younger age group.”

By installing telematics in the cars of young drivers you are immediately encouraging them to be more careful when driving, and one way to reward them for having these systems in place is lower insurance premiums.

Young drivers pay over twelve times more than experienced drivers per mile they drive, collecting 1,307 miles per year under their wheels while 40-49 year old drivers 5,720, making the average insurance premium for young drivers £1.54 per mile and experienced drivers just over 12 pence.

Mandatory telematics systems for young drivers will save lives, the government, millions of pounds a year, bring the cost of driving down for young drivers and improve dangerous traffic on the roads.