Post Blog: Putting the brake on road accidents

It seems cruelly ironic that, in the midst of new developments to track and record driver behaviour, from smartphone apps and telematics to in-car videos, the government has recently confirmed that the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads has increased for the first time in 17 years.

The death toll has risen for the first time in almost a decade, and a report by the Transport Select Committee has revealed that road accidents are the biggest killer of 16 to 24-year-olds. Considering the advances in vehicle design and engineering, the statistics are shocking.

There has always been a responsibility on insurers to encourage safer driving and, if I'm brutally honest, accidents cost money. But money is the key to creating safer roads. I'm not talking here about investment in the road network; it's using money to influence what and how we drive.

In the private car market price is the biggest factor of choice, which is abundantly clear from the dominance of direct writers and aggregators. The best way to incentivise and motivate safer driving practices is to find ways to make insurance cheaper for drivers who can prove they are less risky.

Telematics products work on exactly this basis: drive well and you pay less for your policy. By the same token, if you have a camera that records what you do in your car, the likelihood of acting irresponsibly is low.

There's no doubt that use-based insurance policies have much potential, particularly for younger drivers, but they currently make up a fraction of the market. Until a critical mass is achieved, and it won't be too long before it is, the impact on the accident statistics will be minimal.

Advances to in-car technology that reduce the risk of road accidents have come on leaps and bounds in a short time. Accident avoidance systems use sensors to detect how close you are to another vehicle and implement controls to help avert an accident.

Of these systems, Autonomous Emergency Braking offers a compelling response to our road safety challenges.

AEBs use the automatic application of braking to reduce speed when there is an imminent frontal collision risk to which the driver has not responded.

Many new mainstream vehicles are now fitted with low cost radar, lasers and optical sensors that monitor road conditions and traffic levels to help prevent collisions.

Agreed, for drivers, AEBs can be slightly unnerving when you are used to having full control of your vehicle, but it's clever stuff - and most importantly it works.

Certainly, Thatcham and Euro NCAP believe that these collision avoidance technologies represent the future of accident and casualty reduction on UK roads. Thatcham estimates that 2700 pedestrian casualties would be prevented and 160 000 whiplash claims would be averted.

AEB systems are increasingly being made available as cars are replaced by new or face-lifted models, and the drivers of these vehicles receive a discount, usually in the region of 20%, for using a car fitted with this technology.

The exciting fact is that those in the know about AEBs are joining forces to push the development of the technology and, as more motor manufacturers offer AEBs as standard on vehicles and insurers reward policyholders for driving a car fitted with the technology, we should see the number of road traffic accidents in the UK fall.

There will also be a commensurate fall in incidences of whiplash claims that have helped drive up the cost of private motor insurance.

Of course, AEBs shouldn't be looked at in isolation, particularly as they cannot be applied to a vehicle post-manufacture.

Sales of telematics-based insurance policies are predicted to grow rapidly after the EU gender ruling taking effect in December.

As a consequence, there should be an increasing number of drivers behaving more responsibly, which is vital in the younger age group which is statistically proven to contain the most dangerous drivers.

As a parent of a teenager about to take to the roads and only too aware of the heartache involved with one of the biggest killers of the young in this country, I would support exploring how we could make AEB and telematics compulsory for the first three years of driving.

The costs would not be horrendous and the benefits to society should be immeasurable. In this way we could use education to ensure that people on and around our roads are safe and protected from the few uneducated drivers who cause so much grief and misery.

There are reasons to be hopeful that our dismal road safety statistics can be improved. Certainly motor manufacturers, insurers, telematics businesses and road safety bodies are doing their bit. The rest is down to drivers and, dare I suggest, the government.

Kevin Kiernan, director of personal lines, Groupama