Meeting of the Parliament 25 March 2014
I declare an interest, in that the business that I own, which is now run by my son, is a supplier to the accident damage industry. We supply throughout Scotland to workshops and body shops that repair vehicles.
I am afraid to say that that gives me, in this young body, more than 40 years of experience in the area. When I worked in the industry, I had to make daily calls to body shops and repair shops. No matter how many times I did that, it did not minimise the feeling when I saw a car that had been damaged in an accident involving a young person.
My experience tells me that, for the most part, young people take great pride in their vehicles. By and large, their vehicles are well maintained and they have great paint jobs. They are maybe a wee bit gaudy for my tastes—although, given the ties that I wear, some would probably say that that is the pot calling the kettle black. However, they use extremely flashy colours and they have terrific wheels. I spend a lot of time looking at wheels—not just legs, I have to say—and I see that young people clearly take great pride in what they have. It is a great achievement to own and drive a car, and it is a milestone in young people’s lives.
From my experience, when seeing a vehicle in a workshop that is completely wrecked, it is sometimes hard to understand how people could have walked out of it alive, whereas another car can have very little damage but turn out to have been involved in a fatality. That applies not just to young people but in general. How does that happen? The reason is that the car stops swiftly—it maybe crashes into something, although it might not be a big bump—and the people inside the car collide with each other and suffer head damage, which results in fatalities. From looking at a car that has been in an accident, we can never tell what we are really looking at. People always ask about that—I assure members that, when I walked into the workshop, I always got the bad story, particularly if the crash involved a woman or young person.
The statistics speak for themselves. As members have said, young people aged between 17 and 25 make up 10 per cent of licence holders but 23 per cent of drivers who are involved in accidents, more than one in five of drivers who are involved in injury accidents and 24 per cent of drivers who are involved in fatal accidents. That is a rather sad statistic.
Members have mentioned the idea from the Association of British Insurers of a 12-month learning period. I like that, because the learning period and gaining experience are key factors. However, we should take young people with us on that, and we should not give the idea that a penalty is involved. We could offset that in some way by reducing the age at which people can begin driving from 17 to 16 and a half. That would be a clear message that we are not introducing a penalty but trying to engage with young people to give them the confidence and experience that they need to keep safe. I am sure that young people would buy into that.
Another measure that is used extensively by insurance companies is the black box that monitors behaviours such as speed, turning and time in the car. It also highlights good and bad habits. It is just like having your mum sitting on the back seat, except it disnae talk back. It certainly reduces accidents and insurance costs. It encourages concentration 24/7 and safe driving. It is possible and practical to introduce it for young drivers across the board, if we can come up with the technology—actually, we have the technology; the issue is the cost of installing it. That approach would be more palatable for young people.
The young people I am talking about are mainly males. Girls and women are far better when they are young and old. I know, because we employ a lot of people who drive vehicles. The women are by far the most careful drivers. They get into far fewer accidents and get on with the job much better. We are really talking about young males, and we owe it to them to consider the matter carefully.