New Statistics Place Newcastle’s Young Drivers in Pole Position Thanks to Safe Driving Skills.
* New statistics have revealed fresh insight into the driving habits of young drivers across Northern Ireland.
* The data, derived from the ChilliDrive app, reveals users in Newcastle, Co Down, are the safest as they recorded the highest scores for their driving abilities.
* Young drivers (aged 17 – 24) are gaining increasingly high scores with ChilliDrive. Perhaps surprising to some, 17-year-old drivers are scoring the overall average highest mark within the young driver group.
* Females scored marginally higher than males overall, with total expert scores of 72 and 71 respectively.
* Out of a range of driving variables, both genders scored their highest marks for sticking to safe speeds, each scoring marks of 88.
With Road Safety Week on 19th – 25th November, the UK’s biggest road safety event, new and compelling statistics released from Autoline’s young driver app ChilliDrive, have revealed that young drivers from Newcastle, County Down, are often the safest on Northern Ireland roads.
Newcastle came out top geographically, as app users from the town earned the highest total scores for their driving abilities. Young drivers from Downpatrick, Newtownards, Hillsborough and Ballynahinch also made it in to the top 10.
The data showed that young drivers, aged 17-24, are recording increasingly high scores relating to their safety and proficiency while driving.
Combatting the stereotype of reckless young drivers, the statistics have shown that ChilliDrive drivers who have recently passed their driving test scored the highest marks across the board. This included individual scores for their speed, cornering, braking and acceleration, earning them pole position within the rankings.
Overall, the average score of female drivers was higher than that of their male counterparts, yet with only one point between them, the myths of either gender being extensively better can be dispelled.
Challenging another stereotype was the revelation that young drivers scored their highest marks for driving safely within speed limits. This demonstrates how safe driving is a direct outcome of young people’s driving habits when consistently monitored through the app.
With young people aged 16 – 24 making up 19% of the fatalities on our roads (Nov, 2018) in 2018, Autoline is continually championing messages of safe driving to younger audiences, encouraging a focus on careful driving habits during Road Safety Week and beyond.
The Autoline ‘Respect the Road’ programme highlights the devasting reality of the pain and damage that road accidents can bring. This week the programme will reach a significant milestone, educating over 50,000 young people in the primary causes of car accidents over the past five years.
Suzanne Curtis, Marketing Manager, Autoline Insurance Group said: “Millennials and Generation Z are often berated for their supposed lack of driving ability. We are delighted to see from the insights derived from the ChilliDrive App that the opposite is true, with young drivers leading the charge for safe driving on our roads.
“At Autoline, we place great importance on educating young people on the dangerous impact that careless driving can have. Our ‘Respect the Road’ programme incorporates a powerful presentation with a dramatic in-car simulator experience to bring the reality of a road accident to life.
“Reaching 50,000 students so far has been a massive achievement that we are deeply proud of. As a company we are passionate about this road safety initiative and will continue to strive to reach out to as many young people as possible with the overall aim of positively impacting safety on roads across NI.”
ChilliDrive, Autoline’s young driver insurance product offers an upfront savings to young drivers on their car insurance. ChilliDrive is a reduced premium car insurance policy that uses telematics technology to measure and score drivers’ journeys and contribute to improving their driving standards.
For further information about how your school can participate in the ‘Respect The Road’ programme please contact Evanna Kieran at Autoline Insurance Group on 028 3025 9011 or visit:
***
ChilliDrive Statistics.
The ChilliDrive app is used by several thousand drivers across NI, using telematics technology to track driver habits such as speeding, cornering, acceleration and braking to create an expert score.
* Of the range of driving variables, males and females both scored highest in the variable of Speeding, both gaining scores of 88 for the ability to stay within safe speeds.
* This is followed by high scores in Acceleration, with males scoring 67 and females scoring 68.
* Both male and female drivers scored 58 in the variable category of Braking.
* The skill of Cornering is consistently the one area that needs most improvement across all age groups. Female drivers score higher than male drivers, particularly in the 17 – 21 age group, with scores of 51 and 49 respectively.
* The highest scores on the app were achieved between 8am and 2pm.
* The young drivers made most of their driving trips between 3pm and 5pm
* The top three areas of Northern Ireland where the ChilliDrive app is used are Newry (17.26%), followed by Ballymena (7.7%) and Armagh (7.1%)
