The Insurance Industry and Safer Roads
The Insurance for Safer Roads working group has published the research report, “Insuring Safer Roads: A global guide to strengthening the insurance industry`s contribution to road safety” which is available for download here.
Insurance for Safer Roads is a collaborative initiative looking at new levels to improve road safety from the perspective of the insurance industry, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
The working group comprises representatives from AXA, Zurich, Nestle and the Global Road Safety Partnership who are collaborating towards positive road safety outcomes through heightened involvement of the insurance sector.
The published report was a key output deriving from the goals set in the 2016 Workshop, which explored opportunities arising from the newest technologies and responsible use of data and gathered 80 participants from various institutions and a wide geographic scope.
The report integrates the workshop’s insights and builds the business case for insurers to work towards safer roads through investigation of 4 primary themes:
- Detailing the scope and nature of the road safety problem worldwide and the role of the insurance sector in collision prevention.
- Defining the business case for why collision prevention is a smart objective for the insurance sector.
- Identifying how the insurance sector can help prevent collisions.
- Exploring the emerging technologies and trends in society which will help prevent collisions in the future.
The report will remain a “living document” through continuous updates within GRSP´s resource centre and will serve as a basis for future discussions about insurance and road safety at international public events.
Extract from Report on the Safe Systems Approach to Road Safety
Sweden and the Netherlands, which are the two best-performing countries with regards to road safety, have implemented the Safe System Approach to Road Safety, an extensive and holistic programme to achieve no deaths or serious injuries on the roads. Called Vision Zero in Sweden, it involves distinct bodies such as policymakers, vehicle manufacturers, road safety educators and health agencies and aims to impact road infrastructure, speed management, vehicle safety, road use and driving behaviour. This Safe System is considered as an international best practice in road safety by the WHO and the OECD.
The challenge today is to leverage on this programme and adapt it to the different levels of maturity of HICs and LMICs regarding road safety in order to achieve significant reductions in road crash fatalities worldwide.
Insurers could play a key role in supporting the Safe System Approach
- by providing data on road user behaviour, crash types and locations, injuries and vehicle safety defects associated with road crashes
- and by sharing their knowledge on good practice to reduce the frequency and severity of crashes.
Beyond publishing the report, the working group will sustain the collaboration and work towards identifying ways to:
- Expand the scope of the working group both geographically and in membership.
- Continually promote and update the ‘living’ report document and knowledge base.
- Build the profile of the role of the insurance industry within the road safety community.
- Build the profile of road safety within the insurance sector.
- Develop and disseminate good practice case studies of insurers in road safety in line with the recommendations of the report.
View: Insurance for Safer Roads
Also view
Car Insurance Advice / Education and Road Safety in South Africa
