Road rewards help put the brakes on car accidents
An insult often fired at women is “female drivers!”. It should be “male drivers!”. In 2016 men were involved in 10,802 fatal road accidents in SA — a shocking 76.8% of all fatalities.
The recently released Road Traffic Management Corporation’s annual report for January to December 2016 offers fascinating insights into the surreal dance of order and chaos on SA’s roads.
This month’s Gauteng roads and transport department’s figures on the cost of road accidents and fatalities to the economy reports it as a staggering R143bn of GDP. Underreporting of accidents means the real cost is higher.
The corporation says “human factors” are behind 77.5% of fatal crashes and 89.1% of major crashes. These include jaywalking (5,410 pedestrians died last year), hit-and-runs, speeding, overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic, driving tired, drunk or on drugs, disregarding road signs and using a cellphone while driving.
The Cape Chamber of Commerce responded to the figures by asking for the voice of the short-term insurers — with a vested interest in reducing accident rates — to be heard. Drivers are overly optimistic about their skills. We surveyed a group of people and 81% of them rated themselves as good drivers, but when put to the test only 33% proved to be good drivers.
Getting people to drive better is about far more than processing fewer claims. Insurers have a powerful social role to play. We can help create a healthier, safer society by incentivising good behaviour.
Each year devastation is brought to tens of thousands of families who lose loved ones in road accidents — I experienced this 20 years ago and can attest to its lasting effect.
The latest numbers are shocking: 14,071 people died on SA’s roads in 2016, 9% up from 2015. This is the highest annual road death toll since 2007 when 14,920 people died.
What would happen if poor driving or unnroadworthy vehicles had real-time, daily and financial consequences? On SA’s roads there are more than 1-million unroadworthy and/or unlicensed vehicles and almost 12-million drivers.
Discovery’s behaviourbased model incentivises drivers to make the right choices and creates a shared value cycle using risk reduction to fund rewards.
The Discovery Insure shared value insurance formula is simple: reward people who drive well with relevant incentives in the short term (a free coffee or smoothie, parking or car-wash voucher) and medium-term (fuel benefits, and up to 25% discount on using Uber). Inspired people drive well, more often.
Unlike behaviour, the claims histories of drivers are not always in their control. Over time driver behaviour changes. Cautious drivers respond better to threats on the road and so they stay safe and keep others safe. Wear and tear on their cars decreases.
An impulsive decision to drive drunk or skip a red traffic light is no different from one to eat junk food or down a sugary soft drink. If done frequently, both mean cumulative risk for individuals and society.
With shared value insurance, the clients’ rewards accrue, insurers benefit because there are fewer claims and society benefits through fewer deaths and improved economic growth as road traffic crashes cost most countries at least 3% of their GDP.
Statistically‚ young drivers are a very high claims risk. The corporation shows the highest fatalities are among drivers between 25 and 44 years old and that most fatal road accidents happen between Friday and Sunday between 6pm and 6am when young people are out.
Discovery has decreased the time young drivers spend on the road late at night by 11% through the DriveMe benefit, which gives clients access to discounted rates on Uber, Scooter Angels and Road Trip.
Technology and dataanalytic capability allows us to personalise targets and remedies that incentivise healthy choices or better behaviour on the roads.
Using either an installed telematics device or the Discovery Insure smartphoneenabled DQ track app (which also measures and responds in real time to accidents), Vitalitydrive can monitor driving habits from acceleration and speeding to harsh braking or cornering and more.
It’s been six years since Vitalitydrive was launched. With the 7-billion kilometres of data it collected, it’s evident that driver behaviour improves as clients engage in it.
On average, drivers improve their behaviour by 15% within the first month and maintain this over time.
With harsh events dropping by 59% for our top drivers, we’re seeing fewer severe accidents — which doesn’t only have a positive effect on our loss ratio, allowing us to share the savings through rewards, it also means lives are being saved.
When I get into my car, the Discovery Insure app will turn on in the background and begin to rate my drive. The Vitalitydrive sensor on my windscreen will remind me to be alert to my surroundings.
I urge all stakeholders to focus on shifting behaviour that improves risk and as a result stem the carnage on our roads. Discovery Insure continues to grow quickly, attracting new drivers to join our movement. Together, we can prevent the tragedy of needless loss of life.
INSURERS CAN HELP CREATE A HEALTHIER, SAFER SOCIETY BY INCENTIVISING GOOD BEHAVIOUR
Ossip is CEO of Discovery Insure.