What is Right?

Who decides?

Yes on the young driver wagon again, probably because I feel they get a raw deal. Insurance or lack of choice is the subject, heard it before? So what is the solution, because nobody has yet been able to answer it.  If you ran an insurance company and wanted to make money, which group would you target, the ones who have an older family member to fund their insurance outlay, or the older driver just as likely to have a knock in their car, more likely to trade a cash settlement over an insurance claim.

The young driver may have a disproportionate amount of accidents, but still the figure is small, with 1754 fatalities in the UK last year, half were vulnerable road users, over 70's were more likely to have been drinking than under 25's then we have motorcyclists and the over 45's complacent drivers. If you shuffle through the figures the number of under 25's killed as a driver is minimal. So why are they picking up the bill, because it's easy.

Uninsured drivers cost us more as a country, but with such little policing on our roads who is going to invest any money stopping these people, every day I meet unlicensed drivers on our roads, they believe they can drive and often have a licence from another country, or have been driving on a provisional licence for years, somehow working the pedals and levers makes a driver, if only!

The change to the RTA which means compulsory surrender of old style licences, which must have been implemented by 2030, should see the end of provisional car drivers, of an age that doesn't attract attention, skilled through self teaching, so coaching at it's best, Socrates would be so proud, however, the reality is, we will not enforce this law prior to 2030, so at the last fence, maybe there will be nobody left alive by then who has the pre-photocard licence, or at least on the road.

If a provisional licence was valid for a limited time, like CBT or theory then it may crack down on the cruisers, the uninsured, the fact that an insurance company doesn't ask to see a licence unless there is an accident, says it all, lets take your money and if you need ours then we will check the small print for a get out.

So where does the black box come in, well if the EU have their way, and invariably they do, we will all have black boxes in the future, this will no doubt see an increase in personal injury claims, because the too scared to claim crew, who were injured but won't make a fuss, will find that no win no fee is on their side immediately, with evidence.

I have investigated black boxes, their worth, the evidence the carrot, oops I mean stick and I will blog in detail just what the future holds for anyone who wants to drive in the coming years - watch this space.