Is bad driver behaviour costing the insurance industry?

We are just over a week away from the Easter weekend, which is traditionally a busy time for the South African roads as the public wants to make the most of the long weekend and venture off to holiday destinations.

In anticipation of the congestion that the roads will be facing, the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) released a cautionary note to the insurance industry, saying that a high number of accidents on South Africa's roads are caused by bad driver behaviour and not the state of the roads.

South Africa's high accident rate has a major impact on the industry. We have profiled the fact that the cost of repairs in South Africa is extremely high, and insurers are looking to drive down costs and work towards a situation where there fewer accidents on the road. There is also the fact that the vast majority of cars on South Africa's roads are not even insured. So the chances that one of the vehicles involved in these accidents is uninsured, are very good.

Getting behind the truth

Saying that a high number of accidents on South Africa's roads are caused by poor driver behaviour is no doubt backed up by information supplied to SAIA by insurers.

But, one must determine whether it is a fair statement. Brad Hogan, CEO of Oakhurst, whose use of telematics generates valuable insight into driver behaviour, believes that this is the case.

"The number of accidents which is caused by bad driver behaviour obviously varies with the number of claims received and may vary from insurer to insurer depending on their view or definition of bad driver behaviour. But if we accept that the term denotes an accident that could have been prevented by the driver of the vehicle if he/she had paid closer attention to factors such as general surroundings and state of awareness thereof, other road users - including pedestrians and cyclists, the prevailing weather, animals next to or in the vicinity of the road surface, the condition of the road surface, the rules of the road and the speed of the vehicle, then there can be no doubt that the majority of motor vehicle accidents can be attributed to bad driver behaviour. It is difficult to put an exact percentage to it, but as a rule of thumb I would venture to say this number could be as high as 60% to 65%," says Hogan.

There is also the concern that the situation is getting worse. While Hogan says that bad driver behaviour itself is not getting worse, the situation is worsening because of the increased number of cars on the road.

"The current high accident rate is causing insurance premiums to be unaffordable to most people. The pool to pay out claims is shrinking while the number of vehicles on our roads are increasing at a rapid rate. Insurers are burdened to carry the costs of these accidents," says Dawie Buys, Motor Manager at SAIA.

Are we taking steps towards improving this?

This is creating a worrying situation in the country. One of the biggest areas of concern is that a significant number of these vehicles result in a total loss, and Hogan points out that some of the people involved in these accidents cannot afford to purchase new vehicles.

There needs to be corrective measures put in place which will try to resolve the situation. But what can be done?

"Corrective steps should involve acclimatising drivers better to the scenarios that occur in the real world of controlling a vehicle at high speeds. The use of simulators that could be used to test a person's reactions and response to an emergency situation in the driver's licensing environment might be beneficial when compared to the present situation where the learner driver is tested under controlled circumstances and not exposed to various dangerous situations that may arise on the road," says Hogan.

Certain restrictions regarding the type of vehicle that a driver with a certain licence code may drive could be considered. However, it would be unconstitutional to prevent a 21 year old from buying an Audi S3 or BMW M3, but perhaps the driver can be obliged to undergo an advanced driving course before he/she is licensed to drive a high performance vehicle.

Following international models

There is also the option of following models implemented in international markets. The UK is in the process of implementing a drastic new system whereby a prospective driver would receive a provisional licence for two years and would only qualify for a full licence after they have driven a certain number of hours in certain conditions under strict supervision.

There are also significant restrictions imposed on drivers with provisional licences and harsh penalties would be imposed if these are broken. If the driver is guilty of an offence while they have a provisional licence, they are prevented from reapplying for the process for a certain period of time.

This approach could work in South Africa; however, enforcement would be a major issue.

Student support programme

If we look at the statistics released by the Department of Transport every year, we see that a significant number of accidents on the road are caused by young, inexperienced drivers. This is why younger drivers are regarded as a high risk by insurance companies.

In an effort to change this, SAIA has implemented a Student Driver Support Project. The project takes 20 prospective drivers who will be trained in the conventional method of driver training while another 20 prospective drivers will be trained using a simulated environment as suggested by Hogan.

The drivers who were trained using the simulated method will then drive vehicles on the road in order to see if their skills are any different to the students who were trained in the conventional manner.

"We have major support for this system. Varsity College has come on board and is currently driving this project. If this project is a success, we hope to roll it out at other tertiary institutions as well as high schools or anywhere where a driver is seeking to obtain their licence. We are confident that using this system to train drivers will improve South Africa's accident rate and could promote improved driving behaviour on South Africa's roads," says Buys.

Editor's Thoughts:
Educating the new crop of drivers in this manner will be a significant step in the right direction. Perhaps previously licenced drivers also need to be exposed to the simulator which might expose even the experienced driver to situations they have not been exposed to before. Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts jonathan@fanews.co.za.