The Poor Old Dangerous Driver

Another unbelievably car-centric story from the BBC, about rising insurance premiums for young drivers. Simon Gompertz needs to get of his butt and do a bit of research, a bit of critical thinking and get some balancing opinion from road safety groups, but he's too busy.

The BBC uncritically parrot the AA's line. "The AA has recorded the biggest jump in the cost of car insurance since it started tracking the market, with young people bearing the brunt of the rise...Young male drivers are paying the most, with the average of the three cheapest quotes they get being £2,457.That is nearly double the premiums offered to young women."

That's because young males cause a lot of crashes, duh. I wonder why? An obsession with driving too fast, fed by the BBC's very own Top Gear, perhaps?

"If you have an accident which leaves someone disabled, the claim can be up to £15m."

That's because, duh, if someone's life is ruined by a speeding idiot, the speeding idiot should pay, rather than the taxpayer.

"It is daylight robbery," fumes one young driver. Unfortunately, nobody who has beed killed by a young driver was available for comment.

So whose fault is it all?

"no-win, no-fee lawyers. Their numbers have doubled in the last two years."

Not dangerous drivers then. They're completely innocent, and the oppressed victims of insurance companies, lawers and a judicial system who quite unfairly insist on them paying for the consequences of their actions, while the victims get off scot free.

So here's an idea the BBC and the AA might like to get hold of. We could try making the roads safer! Cheaper insurance premiums, fewer crash victims, fewer no-win no-fee lawyers: everyone's a winner! But wait - that could mean lower speed limits, more law enforcement, less traffic even. Bad idea.