Consultants to look at impact of policy on younger drivers

NEW garda road death figures which reveal fewer young drivers have been involved in fatal accidents has prompted the Government to look at ways of cutting the price of car insurance for young drivers.

The Department of Transport has advertised for consultants to review the effectiveness of existing policy measures on motor insurance costs.

It wants the consultants to look at the impact of those measures on younger motorists and make recommendations on how to reduce the cost of insurance for that group.

At present an 18-year-old male with a clean licence can expect to pay as much as €3,000 to insure himself to drive a small-engined car.

A 40-year-old male driver can expect to pay as little as a tenth of that to insure himself for the same vehicle.

The latest garda figures show a 23% drop in road deaths in the past 12 months and the Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) said if that trend is sustained for the remainder of the year it should lead to a drop in the cost of motor insurance.

The figures show that 34 drivers aged between 16 and 35 lost their lives in the first six months of this year compared with 58 last year.

PIBA chief executive Diarmuid Kelly said: “The Road Safety Authority has put the drop in young motorist deaths down to changing attitudes, as well as random breath testing introduced last year. If these positive trends are sustained for the remainder of the year, and, on the face of it, there is no reason to believe that they will not be, then insurance companies must respond to the reality of the marketplace and reduce the cost of motor insurance.

“This should apply particularly to young motorists whose premiums are higher on the very basis that they have posed a higher risk of having accidents.”

Noel Brett, of the Road Safety Authority, agreed that young drivers should not be prevented from getting onto the roads on the basis that they could not afford insurance.

But he said reduced premiums should be accompanied by more effective training and licensing.

“We want to make sure young drivers are properly trained for the task of driving. We want to make sure people are enrolled in proper tuition and that they can access testing as soon as possible,” he said.