Young driver safety - Chartered Insurance Institute makes public commitment to widespread consultation on improving approaches to safety in mid-2026

The CII has outlined steps towards new guidance on young driver safety in response to a prevention of future deaths report after an inquest into a fatal accident in which three young people died.

The background to the collision and inquest

On 21^st April 2023, three teenage passengers - Matilda Seccombe, Frank Wormald and Harry Purcell, aged 16 and 17 - sustained fatal injuries in a road traffic accident. They were being driven by another 17 year old, who had passed his driving test only a matter of weeks earlier, on 10^th March 2023.

The driver admitted to causing death by careless driving and, in April 2025, was sentenced to twenty four months’ detention (in a young offenders’ unit) and disqualified from driving for eight years.

After the criminal proceedings, an inquest moved to consider the circumstances of the deaths of Matilda Seccombe and Harry Purcell, concluding on 4^th December 2025.

Young driver caused the collision and deaths

The police’s forensic collision report established that the causes of the collision were:

• The vehicle travelling at excessive speed inappropriate for the road layout, meaning the driver lost control
• The loss of control was consistent with lift-off oversteer, occurring when the driver realised too late that he had entered the bend at excessive speed and lifted off the accelerator his corrective actions were ineffective, causing the vehicle to cross into the path of an oncoming car
• The driver’s corrective actions were ineffective, causing the vehicle to cross into the path of an oncoming car and, in addition
• The presence of several young passengers meant that the vehicle was fully loaded

Snapchat clips showed the driver engaging in unsafe driving behaviour in the weeks after passing his test, including: driving excessive speed on rural roads, filming or commenting while driving, a relaxed one-handed driving posture, and trivialising near misses. The driver was described as a habitual bad driver, showing off, driving too fast, and displaying a very poor attitude to speed.

Inquest - prevention of future deaths report

At the conclusion of the inquest, the Acting Area Coroner for Coventry and Warwickshire, Linda Karen Hadfied Lee, issued a prevention of future death report highlighting her concerns regarding the causes of the deaths. The PFD targeted all the following organisations, all of which are required to respond to the concerns by 18.2.26.

• Department for Transport (DfT) – responsible for driver licensing policy, rural road safety and legislative frameworks affecting young drivers
• Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) – responsible for driving tests, training standards and post-test competencies
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – regulator of insurers and insurance intermediaries
• Association of British Insurers (ABI) – representative body for the UK insurance industry
• Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) – professional body for standards and training in the insurance sector
• Snap Group Limited – operator of the Snapchat platform referenced in the sentencing material
• Brake – national road-safety charity with the ability to disseminate safety concerns and promote awareness

Issues raised with the CII and its response

In the PFD, the Coroner asked the CII to consider the following points:

• Industry practice does not appear to include a consistent method for identifying when a named driver arrangement may conceal higher-than-expected use by a young driver, with implications for risk assessment and safety
• The apparent lack of a uniform approach to how telematics is applied and/or the how the benefits of its use are communicated to young drivers
• Uncertainty about how clearly brokers and insurers explain the safety-related aspects of telematics to young drivers and/or their families, which may influence decisions made when arranging insurance

In responding to these findings on 19^th February, quoted below, the CII gave commitments that it will-

• Write to all general insurance firms holding Corporate Chartered status to highlight the Regulation 28 findings. [i.e. those in the Cornoner’s PFD report]
• Work with insurers, trade associations, road safety groups, driver training bodies, consumer groups and the Financial Conduct Authority to stimulate: 
  • Higher prioritisation of young drivers as potentially vulnerable customers,
  • Greater consistency in the way insurers apply good practice when identifying ‘fronting’ (the misuse of named driver arrangements)
  • Greater consistency in the way insurers apply good practice in the promotion of telematics to young drivers
  • Greater consistency in the way insurers apply good practice to the use of telematics data.
• Develop guidance that will identify: 
  • The most effective methods for influencing behavioural change in younger drivers
  • The most effective operational processes for proactive risk management, including the way in which data can be collected, interpreted and acted upon.
• Complete a four month consultation period to June 2026, with final guidance to be published by the end of 2026.

Department for Transport’s Response:

In addition, the Department for Transport has also responded to the PFD, referring to proposals in its recently published road safety strategy, but stopping short of accepting to introduce any form of graduated licencing for young drivers.

The DfT said:

As part of the government’s consultation into a Minimum Learning Period,  the government is consulting in relation to whether to include a mandatory modular syllabus as part of the new mandatory learner requirements. A modular learning syllabus would require structured driving experience across diverse conditions.

Research carried out in other countries has shown that introducing a “Minimum Learning Period” has potential to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries. The government’s consultation is considering the introduction of pre-test measures and combining these with the post-test measures already in place through the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995. That Act has a form of “probationary period” of 2 years for novice drivers of all ages in Great Britain. During this time, instead of the standard 12 points, if 6 or more points are received, including in the learning period, a driver's licence is revoked and they must apply again for a provisional licence, re-entering the learning stage.

The consultation on introducing a Minimum Learning Period for learner drivers closes on 11 May Introducing a minimum learning period for learner drivers (category B driving licence) - GOV.UK

What happens next?

The ongoing debate on young driver safety is important and it is hardly hyperbole, for once, to describe its possible outcome as a matter of life and death. From our collective experience in dealing with road traffic accident claims, investigations, prosecutions and inquests, we would urge the DfT seriously to re-think its position on graduated licences (which might include limiting matters such as the number of peer-group passengers, driving at higher speeds, and at certain times of the day and night).

We suggest that it should also explain clearly the basis upon which they have discarded these sort of options, given that the numbers of serious and fatal collisions involving young drivers and multiple peer-group passengers appears to us to be over-represented in the DfT’s own road accident casualty statistics.

ABI’s Response

The ABI’s response was as follows:

Specifically, in relation to the role of telematics in young driver vehicles, the ABI said the following:

However, the ABI emphasised its commitment to working with its members to continue championing the benefits of telematics, encouraging its uptake among new and novice drivers to help improve road safety. The ABI emphasised that it collaborates with leading road safety charities, including BRAKE, RoSPA, and PACTS, to further strengthen their approach to telematics and its role in young driver safety.

Kate Hargan, Head of Motor Crime at Clyde and Co:

Clyde and Co will provide an update on the CII’s guidance promised by the CII towards the end of the year.