Smartphone app shows young drivers from the Fermanagh & Omagh area among safest in NI

Autoline Insurance's ChilliDrive tracks journeys and analyses driver habits such as speed, braking and acceleration.

The new smartphone app has shown that Fermanagh and Omagh's young drivers are third safest in Northern Ireland.

The findings are based on driving habits such as cornering, braking, speed and acceleration.

Local drivers scored 68%, about same as the average for the region as a whole. Poor cornering ability and braking were found to be the most common driving faults.

"Autoline was the first firm in Europe to link smartphone technology to an insurance policy and we launched ChilliDrive, our latest award-winning, next generation app last year," Michael Blaney, Autoline’s CEO, said.

"The aim is to enhance driving skills, reduce car insurance premiums and, ultimately, improve road safety," he added.

"While designed to give detailed feedback to individual customers, ChilliDrive is also providing some helpful insights into driving habits across Northern Ireland, particularly for younger drivers aged between 17 and 25," he continued.

ChilliDrive is designed to post feedback to individual drivers - a means by which to improve - so that next time they get behind the wheel, they know they have something they can work on.

"Every journey is recorded and every single journey is scored out of 5," Caroline Currie, a Sales Director with Autoline explains.

"It measures things like how smoothly you drive, what your acceleration is like, what your braking is like -  are you braking sharp all time, driving too fast and braking at the last minute - how do you go around corners, what's your speed like - are you staying within the speed limits - and then it gives you an overall score," she went on.

 "The beauty of it is and you look and you've scored, say a 2 - and you're thinking: 'well, where did I go wrong?' - you can pinpoint exactly what went wrong," she explains.

"It's like having a coach in the car - because once you pass your test you're on your own - with the app you're not, because you have something that's there to help you with your driving," she added.

So, how did Fermanagh and Omagh's drivers fare compared with the Northern Ireland average?

Well, local drivers scored best on staying within the speed limit, achieving 85%, the same as the Northern Ireland average. Cornering was scored at 44%, however, slightly less than the regional average of 45%.  Braking was 59%, above the Northern Ireland average (57%).

Across Northern Ireland the stats show that people tend to drive better during the day than at night, and that females are slightly safer drivers than males.  When it comes to speeding, though, there’s very little difference between the sexes.