Speed courses could cut premiums

Insurer calls for education not penalty points

By PH Staff / Wednesday, 18 May 2005 / Loading comments

Are insurers ripping us off?

The recent suggestion that all police forces are to introduce speed awareness courses, as an alternative to receiving penalty points, could dramatically reduce insurance premiums for drivers caught speeding, according to one insurer.

However, you have to ask why, with over 40 per cent of British drivers now holding speeding points on their licences, whether general standards of driving have declined enough to warrant higher insurance premiums as a result of the points, or if it's simply the effect of the massive growth in the number of speed cameras.

The awareness courses, which already run in areas such as Humberside, are said to be effective, with fewer than one in 12 of the participants re-offending. Other police forces offering such courses include Lancashire, Thames Valley and Avon & Somerset, but as yet there is no uniformity in the cost or content of the course and, importantly, drivers in other areas have little choice but to accept the penalty points and accompanying fines.

This is soon set to change with most police forces offering courses within a year. Until then however the situation is that some drivers who are given the option of attending a course, rather than receiving penalty points, may have to travel hundreds of miles in order to take part.

Insurer A & A Group has called for the adoption of a nationwide policy and availability to be introduced as soon as possible. This will keep more drivers on the road thus reducing insurance premiums of those who have been caught speeding, but more importantly will lead to a much lower rate of repeat offenders and mean that every driver is treated consistently, wherever they are in the country.

Under the present system, which operates in areas running the scheme, drivers prosecuted for speeding are offered the option of taking part in a speed awareness course at a cost of £60; the cost of a fixed penalty. Drivers will only qualify for the course if they have exceeded the speed limit by 10 per cent plus 2mph which is based on ACPO’s (Association of Chief Police Officers) level for enforcement.

A & A boss Tony Allen said, "There are currently 6,000 fixed and mobile camera sites in Britain. In 2003 alone, over 33,000 drivers were disqualified for reaching the 12 point limit. Currently over 40 per cent of drivers now have points on their licence. Any measure therefore that can decrease the risk of repeat offending will keep some of these drivers on the road and importantly will show them where they were making mistakes before.

"In our experience many drivers are caught by a speed camera as a result of a momentary lapse of concentration rather than being habitual offenders and it is important that such individuals are given every opportunity to keep as clean a licence as possible and so keep their insurance premiums at a minimum."

Allen said, "Insurance premiums can rise dramatically for drivers with six penalty points or more, even through a specialist such as ourselves. The idea that drivers may now have the option to take part in a speed awareness course means that not only will they not accumulate points in the event of an offence, but intermediaries such as ourselves would be willing to take such a course into consideration as a further means of reducing their premium.

"In fact, over the past two years we have already been offering substantial discounts to drivers taking the "Working Towards Safer Driving" course, run by Ultimate Car Control and we would be happy to extend similar discounts to drivers attending police run safer driving courses."