It has been said often that driving at night is a risky time to be on the roads.
Not only are their hidden dangers such as animals next to the road or drunk drivers stumbling across the road – but also intoxicated drivers and young drivers trying to impress their friends with their driving skills!
Young drivers are the group most at risk. Young male drivers struggle most to find affordable car insurance – and the accident statistics confirm that they tend to be involved in the most serious car crashes. Contributing factors include lack of driving experience, intoxicated driving, distracted driving and speeding.
We would like to share some interesting insights on the % of fatalities per age group:
The fatal crash statistics in South Africa confirm the dangers of night driving! The most dangerous time to drive appears to be at weekends and between 18h00 – 21h00. I would like to quote from the information released by the Road Traffic Management Corporation:
These risks are not unique to South Africa. There has recently been a proposal in the UK from a Cardiff University expert to introduce a graduated driver licensing (GDL) system for all young newly-qualified drivers as unenforceable.
Dr Sarah Jones’ suggestion, which is already in use in parts of the US, Canada and New Zealand, would ban young drivers from the roads at night; from carrying teenage passengers and consuming any alcohol, for a fixed period.
Some car insurers believe that Pay As You Drive insurance policies could provide a better incentive for drivers to avoid night driving. Pay As You Drive is usually seen as “distance based insurance” – calculating the distance that you drive through an odometer reading and then charging a monthly car insurance premium for the distance that you have driven.
There are now also advanced tracking tools that are able to record the exact time and region where drivers are driving. This data can now also be reported to car insurers.
It is suggested that some of these tools as part of PAYD could provide an incentive not to travel at the most risky times of day and could even be more effective at cutting the accident rate among young drivers than banning them from the road at night.
We would like to urge vehicle owners to be conscious to the possible car insurance savings if they reduce their travels. Even though your insurer might not require info such as the time and area where you are driving – you could be rewarded for avoiding unnecessary late night driving.
View the Pay As You Drive section on the Car Insurance Blog for more info on PAYD
Are you the average traveller – or do you believe you drive a bit less than the average driver? This is a question I have asked myself this week as I prepare to take my car for the 135,000 km service.