Car insurance for young drivers news
29/12/2009
Phoning and driving rears its ugly head, again
Data released by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has revealed that the number of motorists using handheld mobile telephones while driving has risen by 100% in the past two years, leading to fears that accident rates could rise while underwriters warn that the price of car insurance for young drivers could also suffer.
In an extensive survey covering some 12,000 cars and taxis and 2,500 van drivers in London, TRL found 2.8% of drivers to be "phoning and driving".
Astonishingly, the rise in the illegal practice comes despite tougher penalties for offenders and constant reminders of how dangerous it can be. Other studies suggest that younger drivers are the worst offenders. Furthermore, being caught phoning and driving behind the wheel in the lead up to an accident can have an extremely negative impact on the price of a car insurance for young drivers premium.
A spokesperson from the road safety charity Brake said that it was "incredibly worrying that people still don't take seriously the dangers that talking on your phone while driving pose."
Online commentators have suggested that one way to tackle the problem would be for motor insurance companies to further penalise offending motorists by grossly inflating the costs of premiums, an idea that is likely to provoke a mixed reaction among car insurance for young drivers customers.
Car Insurance News Archive