Actions speak louder than words
Love them or hate them, the direct insurers are doing their part to contribute to a safer environment for all South African road users. And while they’re not the only short-term insurers doing good for the community, they’re certainly spending more money to make sure we get to hear about it. The direct crowd – too often under scrutiny for their “broker bashing” television and radio marketing campaigns – have excelled in recent weeks.
A feel good television campaign run by OUTsurance, for example, focuses on various community improvement projects tackled by their caring staff. The PR return from these initiatives adds to the goodwill generated by their ongoing Pointsman programme. As part of their visible public service initiative the group sponsors a number of branded traffic signallers who help out when traffic lights go down. We turned to the consumer website hellopeter.com for a typical motorist’s response: “Lo and behold there was an OUTsurance Pointsman directing traffic in the hectic rain… It was unbelievable to me that an individual would put his life at risk for us motorists rushing to get to work”. Late last week we read an article about a Dial Direct project that raises the bar for the direct insurers.
A private public partnership that works
The group’s “pothole brigade” writes Celinda Groenewald in Rapport, fixed more than 220 potholes on Gauteng’s provincial roads in just one month. That’s an impressive average of more than 10 potholes per working day and the kind of community service that gets you loads of mileage, if you’ll pardon the pun. The team from Dial Direct has partnered with Trafficare and the Gauteng department of roads and transport to make the country’s roads safer to use.
Their solution is built around a mobile road maintenance vehicle known as the Jetpatcher. Originally built in New Zealand, this type of machine has been deployed successfully for more than 20-years in 15 countries around the globe. The machine apparently cleans each pothole with a couple of blasts from a high pressure compressor, before applying waterproofing and ramming in new tar. It sure beats the “bucket and stick” approach we’ve seen applied in some of South Africa’s rural municipalities!
Good idea or not, the long-term success of the undertaking depends entirely on government’s willingness to relinquish control over aspects of road maintenance. We recall an article in our local paper documenting how a Good Samaritan was threatened with legal action for plugging a few holes in his street. Dial Direct is currently waiting for the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Tshwane municipality to give approval for the project to be expanded. Says Bradley du Chenne, spokesperson for Dial Direct, “We hope they give us the green light, because we’ll quickly be finished with the provincial roads, and want to get busy with the city areas before the rain sets in.” The group says it hopes to expand its operation from the single rented machine currently in use.
More innovation required
If each and every short-term insurer in the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) stable started similar initiatives they might be able to improve the profitability of the short-term insurance books they’re so concerned about. Imagine 10 privately sponsored Jetpatchers loose on Gauteng roads. We could eliminate pothole related accidents in a matter of months…
What if the insurers partnered with the Metro Police to install privately sponsored traffic cameras on stretches of roads and intersections with high accident rates? In today’s computer age these privately sponsored “traps” could seamlessly integrate with existing Metro systems and make overall traffic law enforcement more effective.
But we’re paying already!
There are arguments against spending private money on road rehabilitation and other traffic improvements. Private and corporate citizens alike are taxed to the hilt for the benefit of a working public sector. We expect roads to be maintained and critical services like water, sanitation and electricity delivered – no questions asked. But government is failing in many areas. Besides, spending a couple of thousand rand on fixing potholes or policing accident hotspots to prevent motor accidents makes perfect business sense.
Editor’s thoughts: The difference between a public and private sector initiative centres on productivity. Take a team of eight men fixing potholes as an example. If you up their daily “quota” form eight potholes to 10 you could save the taxpayer millions of rand on the actual repair bill – and save millions more in preventing road accidents and the resulting hospitalisation and death. Is the Dial Direct “pothole” campaign commendable – or do you view it as a way to score “cheap” PR points? Add your comment below, or send it to [email protected]
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