Co-operative Insurance has launched a new telematics product which includes tools designed to help its young driver customers to improve their driving skills.
The training modules have been developed by Co-operative Insurance in partnership with e-merge safer drivers. Co-operative Insurance describes the introduction of a range of safety modules via an online dashboard as an ‘industry first’.
The announcement comes on the back of a poll of 2,000 young drivers carried out on behalf of Co-operative Insurance in which a fifth of respondents aged 18-24yrs believed they would benefit from continued education and lessons to improve their driving skills.
The Co-op’s Young Driver Insurance dashboard will include a series of driver training modules covering speed, cornering, braking and acceleration that are directly linked to telematics feedback data.
Steve Kerrigan, head of telematics at The Co-operative Insurance, said: “With thousands of drivers already improving their driving and reducing their premiums by using our telematics technology, we believe that the modules will accelerate these benefits by providing additional tools to help our customers continuously improve their driving skills.”
Jeremy Williamson, CEO at e-merge safer drivers, said: “This is just the first stage and we’re looking forward to developing the technology further based on customer feedback, telematics data and in conjunction with The Co-operative Young Member’s Board.”
The reason that young people need further training is because they only want to be trained to a level which allows them to pass their driving test which isn’t particularly difficult. If they were to be trained further they would need to pay more for their lessons. Perhaps if learners and indeed their parents were less concerned about cost than learning the skills necessary to become safe responsible drivers, then this kind of thing wouldn’t be necessary. As it is, it seems like a reasonable compromise.
Phil
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Ok you have followed the original article by featuring a female and the picture on that article a female. If that is so then it strikes me that this scheme is at present being aimed at that demographic. Young female drivers. Perhaps someone from the Co Op would wish to reply to the second part of my question.
Bob Craven Lancs….. Space is Safe Campaigner
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Bob:
The photo choice (both females) is coincidence – we simply selected a suitable photo from our library and it happened to be female.
Nick Rawlings, editor, Road Safety News
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Is it just by chance that this article shows a young female at the wheel and when we look at the report from the insurance company that it also has a young female at the wheel. I am beginning to think that the majority of take up of this product is in fact with females and as they are more predisposed to seek further knowledge and training to improve their driving abilities, maybe there is a bias there.
Can I ask of what proportion of the 2000 respondents to the poll were female and male? Maybe that would give us a better understanding of why so many didn’t feel the need for further training.
bob craven Lancs….. Space is Safe Campaigner.
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Tragic isn’t it that these youngsters soon learn that they have been poorly equipped to manage the environment that they find themselves in. Why else would they be asking for “continued education and lessons to improve their driving skills” if it wasn’t for that realisation?
Duncan MacKillop. No surprise – No accident.
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Looks like a great development.
It isn’t clear what type of training is offered – does anyone know if it is online and/or practical? The fact it is linked directly to the drivers’ telematics also should mean the effect of the training can be evaluated relatively easily (hopefully!).
Matt Staton, Cambridgeshire
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Providing that these or any telematics don’t hinder the driver or affect his or her concentration and enable them to make decisions for themselves it should be a good thing.
Sobering thought though that only some maybe 400 out of 2000 approached agreed that further instruction would be of benefit. Still leaves 1600 who think otherwise. That and after spending an awful lot of money on maybe 40 or 50 hours of driving lessons. Many young people would baulk at the idea of spending more money.
bob craven Lancs ,,,,, Space is Safe Campaign.
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