Disabled drivers in their twenties say it is unfair for the Motability scheme to install “black box” tracking devices in their vehicles.
Motability Operations – the company running the car scheme for disabled benefits claimants – has changed insurance rules for young drivers.
A “drive smart” device is now installed in all vehicles driven by people under 30. The trackers allow the company to monitor their driving habits.
The tracking devices and connected app will score behaviour like speed and the smoothness of braking.
If young drivers clock up enough negative “red” scores over a 12-month period, they could be removed from the Motability scheme.
Such devices also collect the kind of data on drivers’ journeys that can be used by Motability’s investigations unit, which looks at misuse of cars.
It comes amid concerns that some drivers could be abusing the Motability scheme, including using a family member’s vehicle to run a taxi service or make food deliveries.
‘Mandatory trackers are not right’
Keron Day, a 25-year-old actor who appeared in the Netflix series Sex Education, thinks it is unfair that the devices have been made mandatory for young disabled drivers.
Day, who has cerebral palsy and drives a wheelchair accessible vehicle, renewed his lease and ordered a new car last month. He was told that his new vehicle would have a black box tracking device.
“The problem is that it’s mandatory,” he told The i Paper. “That’s not right.”
Keron Day is worried that hand controls and other adaptations may trigger ‘red’ scores“Not a single non-disabled person has to have a black box. They have the choice. So disabled people should have choice too. You can’t apply something to one group, and not everyone else.”
Young drivers are generally considered higher risk by insurers. Non-disabled drivers can voluntarily sign up for a black box tracking device, since such agreements can offer lower insurance premiums.
‘We all pass the same driving test’
Day also said he feared negative “red” ratings could be given unfairly by Motability if the tracking devices were overly sensitive to a perceived lack of “smoothness”.
He is worried that hand controls and other adaptations may trigger the kind of red score that could see someone removed from the scheme.
“Of course disabled people drive differently – that’s why they have adaptations. My worry is that the black box is not attuned to that, is not set up for adaptations. So my worry is people will be penalised because of a computer. That would be totally wrong.”
Day added: “We all pass the same driving test. If someone was an unsafe driver, they wouldn’t have passed the test.”
Disability Action Northern Ireland has previously raised concerns about the sensitivity of the tracking devices. The charity warned that poor ratings for smoothness could be triggered as a result of someone’s disability and the adaptations they use, rather than their approach to driving.
Red ratings will trigger personalised advice
Motability Operations began rolling out the tracking scheme in Northern Ireland in September, and the rest of the UK in March.
The black box devices can help lower insurance costs, as well as improving road safety by offering feedback to drivers, Motability said.
The company has said it will send personalised advice if a driver under 30 has any “red weekly driving score”. If these drivers often get red weekly scores, then their lease “may be impacted and this could affect your ability to join the scheme in the future”.
The company has said it will look in more detail at how well the device is working if a driver thinks something has been recorded wrong more than once.
Motability recently announced that it was expanding its investigations unit to 80 people to help identify misuse of cars. Tracking devices are used to help identify those exploiting the system. However, the company has said the “drive smart” scheme was focused on how someone is driving, not where they are going.
It comes as disabled motorists share fears about the rising costs they face when renewing their lease from July.
Motability has said the upfront payment for a three-year lease will have to increase by an average of £400 from the summer, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves imposed VAT on the scheme for the very first time. Other changes aimed at helping Motability deal with the tax burden include a higher excess mileage fee, and new charges for taking vehicles abroad.
Motability Operations’ chief executive Andrew Miller said Reeves’s tax changes mean it will cost “significantly more” to run the scheme.
But Miller said the company had tried to absorb as much of the tax burden as possible.
“If we did nothing, the average cost of a new lease would increase by around £1,100,” he said. “It was clear to me that simply passing all these costs on to customers was not an option.”
Motability Operations has been contacted for further comment.
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