Some British insurance companies have started to offer young drivers the option to fit a “black box” in their cars to monitor their driving habits in order to receive substantial discounts on their premiums.
These boxes monitor speed limits, braking and acceleration and reward good habits.
If a driver exceeds the legal speed limits consistently then the insurance company can issue him with a warning or even fine him.
This technology is relatively new and insurance companies are still exploring the options.
They focus on young drivers where premiums are at their highest.
Some companies keep a score sheet, compare drivers’ performance and reward the safest drivers with discounts.
Some insurers are waiting to see if it is simply only those drivers predisposed to driving cautiously anyway that accept the new technology or if black boxes are likely to significantly change the behavior of less cautious drivers too.
There are about a dozen companies in Britain offering ‘black box’ cover.
Four years ago, only 12,000 people had black box policies, now the figure has soared to 290,000. Insurers claim that if motorists can prove themselves to be low-risk drivers such policies can reduce the cost of their cover.
Research from comparison website “Moneysupermarket.com” suggests good motorists who used black box technology — also known as telematics — could have up to £212 knocked off their insurance premiums.
If this trend continues to expand and include other categories of drivers, then monitoring speed limits would gradually shift from local authorities to insurance companies.
Street speed cameras would become redundant as drivers would worry more about their insurance premiums rather than speeding fines.
Once this change occurs, speeding cameras would not cover the cost of their maintenance and supervision and their output of speeding convictions would plummet.
Sooner or later, these cameras would be taken down or abandoned.
This is the theory anyway, but as one motoring expert said “If a driver adheres to the rules of the road, these cameras cease to exist for him or her.”
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— Adel Murad is a senior motoring and business journalist, based in London.
Email: [email protected]
