Do you want a spy in your car?

By Ian Dickson
October 06 2006
These days it’s virtually impossible not to be recorded on CCTV at some point throughout the day. When you bought your sandwich at lunchtime there’s a strong chance you were caught on camera, and you will again when you go out after work or go to the gym. In fact, today the average person has had their image taken about 300 times.
But it seems you can’t escape Big Brother when you climb behind the wheel of your car either. New black-box technology has allowed insurance company Norwich Union to keep track of where people drive and for how long under a new pay-as-you-drive insurance scheme. It started off as a trial period among 5,000 young motorists, but has proved so successful that it will now be offered as an alternative to conventional schemes.
However, there’s the controversial element that these black boxes can also record how fast motorists have been travelling, which could potentially incriminate thousands of people who creep over the speed limit on a daily basis. The question is, who has access to this information and, crucially, will the police be allowed to get their hands on it?
Nigel Humphries, a spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, is sceptical of such technology keeping tabs on drivers. He said: “We would hope that the data protection act would stop insurers passing any information on. But the last thing you want is insurance companies knowing where you are all the time. With pay-as-you-drive you haven’t got a predictable insurance scheme and there is the potential for insurers to rip you off. We don’t like the fact that insurance companies can monitor your speed either. This sort of spying is not the right way to go about it. Inevitably, we’re heading towards speed limiters and cars that are controlled externally.”

The police might not have to catch you speeding any more. Insurers could have a database full of evidence.The black box technology works like this: a device installed in your car tracks your movements and relays this information though to your insurer, who then bills you at the end of the month for every mile travelled. In principal, the idea is great. It’s cost effective and is priced to encourage motorists to drive at off-peak hours when they’re less likely to have an accident. As for recording speed, a Norwich Union spokesman stresses that any information will not be passed on except in extreme cases of dangerous driving when the police request it. He said: “Under no circumstances will we share information on speeding drivers. We don’t monitor speed.”
However, according to Norwich Union’s small print, information collected on drivers can be used against them. It said: “If approached, we will only provide information about you to those legally entitled to it, and where we are obliged to release it.” Time will tell exactly how much information insurers are allowed to release to the police about motorists who sign up to these pay-as-you-drive schemes, but road safety charity Brake welcomes the new insurance scheme, despite the civil liberty implications.
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A spokesperson said: “Pay as you drive insurance is a step in the right direction. We are pleased insurance companies are thinking about the safety of young drivers and discouraging them from driving at night which is when they are most likely to die on the road. The civil liberties question is a non issue particularly when the scheme is a voluntary one. As far as we are concerned the right to life is the most important of all and any scheme which seeks to protect it should be welcomed.”

Pay-as-you-drive insurance encourages young people to stay off the roads at night when they're more likely to have a fatal accidentOf course, whatever side of the fence you sit on, there’s no doubt that a lot of good can come out of an insurance scheme like this. Cheaper premiums for people who drive occasionally, the ability to track your car should it be stolen, and, hopefully, a reduction in the number of young people killed on the roads each year. Research conducted during the trial of the technology saw a 20% reduction in the number of young people killed or injured on the roads and a third sliced from the average insurance premium.
The costs certainly look appealing. On top of the one-off set-up fee – likely to be around £50 a month – the prices work on a sliding scale depending on your age and the time you drive. For 18 to 23-year-olds, they will pay £1 per mile when they travel between the twilight hours of 11pm and 6am – the time when most people of this age group are killed or injured. However, should they travel outside these ‘peak’ times they will only pay 5p per mile. Drivers aged 24 to 65 will pay about 1p per mile for off-peak motorway journeys, which will rise to 16p during peak times such as during the morning rush hour.