Carla Lockhart led a debate in Westminster Corridor on Authorities assist for younger drivers the place she stated excessive premiums prices had been a barrier to younger folks getting a driving licence.
“For 17-year-olds premiums surge by a median from £1,423 to £2,877, for 18-year-old drivers the common coverage worth reached £3,162, and I’ve had constituents contacting me having had quotes of between £5,000 and £7,000 for a car price half the worth,” she stated.
Ms Lockhart conceded that younger persons are extra more likely to be concerned in highway collisions, stating “the trade view does appear to be supported by knowledge”.
The Higher Bann MP additionally acknowledged the Authorities had responded to a petition on the difficulty and has “dominated out any interference available in the market” however steered different strategies that is perhaps utilised to cut back insurance coverage prices for younger folks.
She stated: “I do know many of those might not be what younger drivers want to see explored, as all deliver with them some type of restriction on that freedom they want, however given the state of affairs now with insurance coverage prices we should have a look at all ways in which younger drivers can power the hand of insurers to cut back these premiums.
A graduated driving licence scheme was described by the member for Higher Bann as “the best intervention in lowering incidents and fatalities for younger drivers”.
Ms Lockhart steered this might embody a 12-month minimal studying interval, a ban on intensive driving programs, reducing the age at which younger folks can be taught to drive, a restriction on the variety of younger passengers, a restriction on driving in evening time hours or a reducing on the blood alcohol restrict for younger drivers.
“All these measures appear truthful and certainly appropriate with nonetheless getting younger folks on the highway quickly after they flip 17 however extra safely,” she stated.
Conservative MP Sir Invoice Wiggin expressed assist for some further restrictions on younger drivers that will facilitate decrease insurance coverage premiums.
“Probably the most vital steps ahead I feel we may have is an trade supported coaching answer so that when you’ve got handed your driving check, when you go on to additional coaching you’ll get cheaper insurance coverage,” he stated.
Sir Invoice additionally stated {that a} restriction on passengers would lower distractions for younger drivers.
He instructed MPs: “Now for younger folks, any person gassing at the back of the automobile, they’ll address one voice but when there’s a great deal of them and I feel we’ll all bear in mind from our youthful days packing folks into the automobile and popping all the way down to the pub or no matter, however all that noise is unhealthy for the decision-making course of that younger males’s brains undergo after they understand a hazard.
“Having one passenger makes one other distinction to the insurance coverage trade on a slightly darkish facet, it signifies that if there’s an accident there are much less folks concerned, and subsequently the price of these life-changing accidents is diminished.”
Transport minister Anthony Browne stated that Authorities intervention in insurance coverage “may harm competitors total”.
He stated: “I ought to say that insurance coverage is a free market and it is not one that’s run by the Authorities and I feel we have got a really robust regulatory regime in place, it does must work to verify these markets work pretty and within the curiosity of customers.”
He added: “The Authorities doesn’t intervene or search to manage that market, and nor ought to it try to management that market.”