Time to put brakes on reckless drivers renting supercars, says MP
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It is time to put the brakes on individuals renting supercars and driving recklessly on public highways, an MP has said.
Labour’s Holly Lynch (Halifax) has called for all rental vehicles over 300 horsepower for use on public roads to be fitted with a black box which would record information about the manner in which the car is being driven.
It comes as she warned MPs that the number of road traffic offences being committed by drivers in hired high-powered vehicles are increasing.
Ms Lynch said the Government must “call time on reckless drivers, irresponsible hire companies and stand with the communities blighted by this issue”.
Introducing her High Performance Vehicle Renting (Regulation) Bill, she told the Commons individuals renting super cars for experience days often “will not have the experience of handling a 300-plus horsepower vehicle” which could be “deadly”.
Ms Lynch added: “Now more often than not in the examples that I have seen and have had reported to me, when road traffic offences are committed in high powered vehicles – supercars, prestigious cars, whatever you want to call them – the driver is not the owner of the vehicle, rather they have hired it.
“In recent years we have seen a rise in cars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris being hired out to someone who goes on to pass the keys to someone else, if not several other people.
“Vehicles are then driven at dangerously high speeds, putting other road users, pedestrians and the driver themselves as risk.
“Often the driver will not have the appropriate insurance, arguing that they believe they were somehow covered by the rental agreement or by their own insurance as a driver or simply that the person who had hired the car had given them the consent to take it around the block and they hadn’t intended to crash so didn’t need it.
“In a majority of cases they will not have the experience of handling a 300-plus horsepower vehicle which we know can be deadly in the wrong hands.”
She added: “I am proposing that all rental vehicles for use on public highways over 300 horsepower will need to be fitted with a black box.
“The black box is typically the size of a matchbox and records information about how and when a car is driven.
“The information contained within that black box must be made available to the police on request.
“The second related change is that a person hiring a car must be insured as the named driver for that specific vehicle for the entire duration of the rental agreement.
“They must satisfy the hire car company of this prior to being allowed to drive the vehicle away.”
A date for the Bill to be read a second time has not been set and would require Government support in order to progress.
