Daily Motor News – Friday 20 September

Campaign launched to reclaim ‘drive safely’ to save under 25s from life-changing crashes

As a new wave of young drivers take to the road this school year, new claims data on serious injuries from Admiral Car Insurance reveals crashes involving young drivers are ‘still too high’. Admiral’s own data shows drivers under the age of 25 are nearly twice as likely to make a claim for a crash involving a serious injury than a driver over 25. Full story

Premiums still rising but rate is slowing down

Price rises for car insurance are continuing to slow, but motorists still face an annual rise of 9.8% in average quoted premiums, according to the latest Consumer Intelligence Car Insurance Price Index. However, most of the increase occurred between August last year and December, with average quoted premiums remaining unchanged over the past three months, according to the report. Full story

Webinar to mark launch of new young driver toolkit

A new toolkit for young driver education – which will be freely available to road safety partnerships and other stakeholders – will be officially launched at a webinar on 1 October.The Young Driver Road Safety Education Toolkit has been developed by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) in response to a ‘sector move towards using evidence-led and evaluated interventions’. Full story

European auto industry calls for urgent action as demand for EVs declines

A continuous trend of shrinking market share for battery electric cars in the EU sends an extremely worrying signal to industry and policymakers. European auto manufacturers, united in ACEA, therefore call on the EU institutions to come forward with urgent relief measures before new CO2 targets for cars and vans come into effect in 2025. Full story

BEVs in Europe experience largest year-on-year drop in sales since January 2017

According to JATO Dynamics’ data for 28 European markets, 753,482 new cars were registered in August. This marks a 16% decrease on the 899,881 units registered in the same month last year, and the biggest year-on-year drop since June 2022. Full story

Vehicle recalls ten times more likely in 2024 than 30 years ago

With vehicle recalls in the news this week, The Car Expert has been analysing UK recall data over the last 30 years. The analysis shows that the rate of vehicle recalls has surged more than tenfold compared to initial figures from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in 1994. Full story

US: CLEPA joins call for independent operators’ ‘Right to Repair’

CLEPA, along with other sector associations, have co-signed a statement calling for independent operators’ ‘Right to Repair’ at their meeting during Automechanika 2024. The call centres on an urgent need for a fair level-playing field and robust legislative backing to address the rising competitive advantage by OEMs controlling the data generated by vehicles. Full story

NBRA (VBRA) secures training discounts for members

NBRA has accessed discounted training for its members. Several of its training members have agreed to join this initiative, with all courses available to members on a first come first served basis, attracting a 10% discount. Full story

How batteries will drive the zero-emission truck trans

Road freight vehiclesaccount for a significant share of global CO₂ emissions. Hence, minimizing their carbon footprint is a vital step toward achieving global climate targets. Over the past decade, governments, fleet operators, and truck OEMs have realized this need for action and have gone to significant lengths to make this positive change happen. Full story

Electric vehicles raise concerns about whether safety infrastructure can handle their weight in a crash

As the number of electric vehicles on US roads continues to rise, concern has emerged about the ability of existing safety infrastructure to handle their increased weight. Guardrails and other roadside safety barriers, typically tested against vehicles weighing around 5,000 pounds, are now being challenged by EVs that often exceed that weight. Full story

StreetDrone Now Part of Oxa, Bolstering Oxa’s Position in Industrial Logistics

Oxa, a worldwide provider of self-driving vehicle software, has announced that StreetDrone, a leader in the development and deployment of autonomous technology for industrial logistics, will become part of Oxa. Full story

Powerfleet Announces Strategic Acquisition of Fleet Complete

Powerfleet, a leading provider of AIoT SaaS solutions for the mobile asset industry, has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement providing for the strategic acquisition of Fleet Complete, a prominent player in connected vehicle technology and fleet management. Full story