Pay As You Drive

TomTom announces partnership in the insurance telematics industry

We have on the Car Insurance Blog discussed Insurance Telematics and expressed the belief that this industry is expected to increase significantly over the next few years. South Africa has been a leader both in the fleet management technology and the insurance products available to measure driving behaviour and reward responsible drivers. Yesterday it was announced that GPS manufacturer TomTom has made a landmark move into the insurance market in Europe by providing the technology behind a new insurance product, which bases premiums on driving behaviour.

TomTom has teamed up with insurance broker Motaquote for the launch of Fair Pay Insurance – a product that rewards ‘good’ drivers with lower premiums.

“Our entry in the insurance market with our proven fleet management technology puts us at the forefront of a move that could help to revolutionise the motor insurance industry,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director TomTom Business Solutions.

“We offer a unique combination of navigation, traffic information and telematics which opens up great opportunities for insurance companies to promote greener, safer driving and create a ground breaking portfolio of new insurance products.”

“We are delighted Motaquote have recognised this potential in the launch of such an innovative product.”

Fair Pay Insurance gives drivers control over their own policy by using driving ability and behaviour to allocate premiums, rather than so-called risk factors such as postcode, gender, and age or vehicle type.

“We’ve dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you’re a good driver, we’ll believe you and we’ll even give you the benefit up front,” said Nigel Lombard, Managing Director of Fair Pay Insurance.

“This is unlike some other telematics-based schemes where you may have to prove your ability over a number of months. So if you think of your insurance as your car’s MPG – the better you drive, the longer your fuel will last. It’s the same with Fair Pay Insurance, good drivers get more for their money and in that sense they will pay ultimately less.”

Drivers who sign up for Fair Pay will benefit from a specially-developed TomTom PRO 3100 navigation device, which includes Active Driver Feedback and LIVE Services. This means policy-holders can be alerted to driving events, such as harsh cornering and sharp breaking, and benefit from accurate traffic information updated every two minutes.

They will also have a LINK tracking unit fitted in their vehicles, allowing driver behaviour and habits to be monitored. This information can then be viewed by the policy-holder in their driver dashboard, an online tool that details journey and driver behaviour data, and in regular email bulletins.

What is insurance telematics?

There is a clear and direct relationship between vehicle telematics and the benefits they are able to provide to the insurance industry in measuring and reporting on driving behaviour. Insurance is all about measuring and calculating risk. Insurance companies evaluate the level of risk and then set premium rates and coverage per the measurement in question. Vehicle telematics is the best , most effective and scientific way to limit risk.

Also view on the Arrive Alive Website: Vehicle and Insurance Telematics

For more on how data from traffic flow is used in insurance products also view:

Hollard and Pay As You Drive  - see “Pay As You Drive”

Outsurance and Safe_Driver@Out  – see “Outsurance activates technology to reward safe driving behaviour”

Discovery and Vitality Drive – see “Drivers have an IQ, EQ and now with car insurance also a DQ”

MiWay and MiDrivestyle http://www.miway.co.za/midrivestyle

How will a lift club impact on your car insurance?

The issue of lift clubs is dealt with in the National Land Transport Act. Section 69 states that the Minister may make regulations for a lift club or operations of a lift club, however there has not been any regulations made in terms of that section.

What do you know about operating a lift club and car insurance?

Before anyone start operating or taking part in a lift club there is a need to know checklist which should be kept in mind:

The most important aspects are:

- Which vehicle is used?
- Who are the drivers?
- How is the vehicle operated?
- Details on licensing

We would like to look at these aspects in more detail and share some important insights. It is important to recognize that there is no “one size fits all” answer as lift clubs differ in the way that it is operated.
We would also like to quote from the different types of Carpools / ridesharing or lift clubs out there as described on the Arrive Alive Road Safety website

Types of carpools

• Designated Driver Carpool

This carpool generally has one driver and one or more passengers. The driver provides the vehicle and passengers pay a daily, weekly or monthly fare based on expenses such as petrol, maintenance and parking.

• Alternating Carpool

Enjoy the simplicity of a carpool in which driving is alternated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Costs are incurred only during the period in which you are required to drive. Or, put simply — when you drive you pay, when you ride it’s free.

• Employer Carpool

Some employers encourage employees to share the ride to and from work by allowing the use of company vehicles. Employees pay a fare to offset additional petrol, maintenance and insurance costs. As most company vehicles sit idle in parking lots after business hours this system can benefit both employers and employees. Employers can save their parking for paying customers while demonstrating their environmental responsibility and employees can save money.

Transportation for Reward and the Professional Driving Permit

If your Lift club can be regarded as transport for reward, the driver will need to apply for and drive with a Professional Driving permit.

When do you need a Professional Driving permit?

The National Road Traffic Act states that the driver of vehicle that transports persons for reward shall have a PrDP for category P-Passengers.

115. Certain drivers of certain vehicles to hold professional driving permit
115. (1) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (2), a professional driving permit shall be held by the driver of-
(a) a goods vehicle, the gross vehicle mass of which exceeds 3 500 kilograms;
(b) a breakdown vehicle;
(c) a bus;
(d) a minibus- (i) the gross vehicle mass of which exceeds 3 500 kilograms; or (ii) which is designed or adapted for the conveyance of 12 or more persons, including the driver;
(e) a motor vehicle used for the conveyance of persons for reward or is operated in terms of a operating licence issued in accordance with the NLTTA; [Subreg. (e) replaced by R.4, G.N. R.871 w.e.f. 1 January 2006 enforceable from 1 July 2006]
(f) a motor vehicle the gross vehicle mass of which exceeds 3 500 kilograms to which regulations 273 to 283 apply as contemplated in regulation 274; and [G.N. G.N. R.727 has put subreg (1)(f) into operation on 3 August 2001] [Subreg. (1)(f) substituted by R.25, G.N. R.881 w.e.f. 23 July 2004]
(g) a motor vehicle conveying 12 or more persons including the driver.

If the vehicle used in your lift club is a minibus as described above you will need the Professional Driving Permit and your insurance will also require you to provide this.
You would also require a Roadworthy Certificate.

A lift club is usually an arrangement where every member has a car and they take turns driving. If 4 people go to work every day with the same person as driver and pay him for petrol he is simply operating a taxi, thereby transporting passengers for reward and in need of a professional driving permit.

On the issue of personal liability it is important to recognize new legislation. In terms of the new act, if there is an accident in South Africa and one is injured as a result of someone else’s negligent driving one cannot sue that negligent driver for personal injuries suffered. One has to go through the Road Accident Fund and cannot sue the negligent driver in a South African court for anything other than pure emotional shock which is very unusual.

Best advice on Communication with your Car Insurer

It is best to contact your insurer should you make your vehicle available for the purpose of use in a lift club. If you remain the driver it should not be a problem and you may even save if your vehicle is used less often. If somebody else may regularly be driving the vehicle it is important to that such a person be added as a designated driver on your insurance policy!

Also view:

Lift Clubs, Ridesharing, Carpooling and Road Safety

Study challenges the belief that women are bad at parking

Do you believe that women are poor at parking? We have always believed that even though we accept that women may be safer driving, they are not as good as the male drivers when it comes to parking a vehicle!

A new study might however challenge these beliefs! I have come across an article by Murray Wardrop in the Telegraph titled “Women are better at parking than men, study suggests”. On reading the title I immediately questions what the criteria might be for being “better”. There are often different studies coming to different conclusions and we should always hesitate before claiming the findings of one study as being the ultimate and only truth.

It is however also important to share some of these findings.

Study on Parking Behaviour

This study was undertaken by way of covert surveillance of car parks across Britain, and I would like to quote from these findings:

“Covert surveillance of car parks across Britain has shown that while women may take longer to park, they are more likely to leave their vehicles in the middle of a bay.

The study is one of the most comprehensive ever conducted on gender driving differences, and took into account seven key components of parking styles.

Women were also found to be better at finding spaces, more accurate in lining themselves up before starting each manoeuvre, and more likely to adopt instructors’ preferred method of reversing into bays.

Men were shown to be more skilled at driving forwards into spaces and more confident overall, with fewer opting to reposition their car once in a bay.

But once all the elements were taken into account, women were ranked first with a total score of 13.4 out of 20, compared to 12.3 points achieved by men.

Neil Beeson, a professional driving instructor who devised the experiment, described the results as “surprising”.

Mr Beeson, who has recently appeared on the ITV show Last Chance Driving School, said: “In my experience men have always been the best learners and usually performed better in lessons.

“However, it’s possible that women have retained the information better. The results also appear to dispel the myth that men have better spatial awareness than women.

“It shows that us men need to give our partners more respect when it comes to parking. The facts don’t lie.”

The study was produced by the car park firm NCP, which employed a team of researchers to observe 2,500 drivers across its 700 car parks in Britain over a one-month period.

Each aspect of a person’s parking was marked and added to a final tally to produce a “parking coefficient” for the two sexes.

The first category analysed people’s ability to find spaces. Researchers found that impatience caused many men to drive too quickly around car parks, meaning they missed free bays. Meanwhile, women’s slower approach meant they were better able to notice spaces, or spot when other drivers were about to leave.

More than three quarters of women were found to excel in their so-called “pre-parking pose”, setting themselves up to pull into a space, compared to just over half of men observed.

Thirty-nine per cent of female drivers cleanly executed reversing into spaces, compared to only 28 per cent of men.

Men were much quicker at parking, taking 16 seconds on average against the 21 seconds women needed to complete the manoeuvre.

However, the extra time paid off leaving 52 per cent of women parked in the middle of each bay, compared to 25 per cent of men. This category proved particularly punishing for the men’s rating as it was the most heavily weighted in the coefficient.”

Conclusion

Not everyone agrees with the criteria used to determine what can be regarded as “better parking”. This does however support the reasoning behind cheaper car insurance for women. Even though they may take longer, they are taking more caution with their vehicles and this will lead to fewer accident and insurance clams!

Insurers in Europe expected to focus on “Big Brother” telematics for car insurance

During the past year we shared numerous discussions on the importance of insurance telematics and how technology can be used to calculate more accurately insurable risks. We have also discussed the pro’s and con’s, with the only negative being the general criticism to potential breaches in privacy etc.

There are so many benefits that many insurers have gone ahead in successfully implementing these “black boxes” inside vehicles. Consumers have also come to a much clearer understanding that sharing their driving data with their insurers could reduce their car insurance premiums – a benefit which in these challenging financial times far outweighs most of their privacy concerns.

It is important to note that the manufacturers of this technology have been able to develop newer more affordable technology which can now be used in passenger vehicles at much lower costs than years gone by when it was more limited to the fleet management and logistics industries.

Impact of European Decision on Gender Discrimination

Insurance telematics may be the unintended beneficiary of the decision by the High Court in Europe with regards to gender discrimination in setting insurance premiums. The High Court has found that insurers in Europe will no more be allowed to use gender alone as the criteria to differentiate between the genders in setting premiums. This has a significant impact on especially car insurance premiums where women were always offered lower premiums than their male counterparts.

Insurers believe that the benefits of insurance telematics, and especially the ability to provide scientific proof that the premium is calculated according to driving behaviour, will allow them to hold on to their insured female drivers by keeping their  insurance premiums affordable.

This was discussed in more depth in an article titled “Auto insurers in Europe may use black box technology to set rates”. I would like to quote a few important points from this article:

• It has been revealed that Britain’s biggest motor insurer, Royal Bank of Scotland, is among those testing the technology.
• “There’s a renewed interest, not least because of the gender directive,” said James Rakow, insurance partner at consultants Deloitte.
• Using telematics to set premiums according to customers’ risk profiles allows the industry to keep offering lower insurance quotes to most women while staying on the right side of the law.
• By making explicit the connection between safe driving and cheaper insurance, telematics could also encourage car makers to offer cheap coverage as an incentive to buy vehicles fitted with extra safety features, encroaching on insurers’ territory.

Vehicle and Insurance Telematics in South Africa

It is clear from the above that 2012 may be an important year for both insurers and the companies developing vehicle telematics solutions. It will also be important for car owners to take a closer look at the technology on offer and how this could help them to keep their insurance premiums at affordable levels.

In South Africa insurers have been active in including telematics in their insurance offerings. Also have a look at the following posts:

Vehicle and Insurance Telematics

Vehicle Telematics, Accident Investigation and Fleet Management

Hollard and Pay As You Drive  - see “Pay As You Drive”

Outsurance and Safe_Driver@Out  – see “Outsurance activates technology to reward safe driving behaviour”

Discovery and Vitality Drive – see “Drivers have an IQ, EQ and now with car insurance also a DQ”

MiWay and MiDrivestyle http://www.miway.co.za/midrivestyle

For some info in Afrikaans also view:

Is versekering “telematics” die pad na goedkoper motorversekering?

Are you paying expensive car insurance cover while not driving your car this December?

December holidays away have become a tradition for many South Africans. All you need to do is to take a drive along the cost or the major routes to your coastal towns and cities and you will find this has not changed…

At all the rest stops we find cars fully laden with people and their holiday equipment. Many of these are towing trailers or caravans. Those who are fortunate enough spend times in relaxation either at holiday homes or caravan resorts and often do so for up to 3 weeks and longer…

This begs the question – do they perhaps have another car safely parked away in the garage and not to be seen nor driven until the New Year? Do their insurance policy and premium reflect that the car is driven much less and do they benefit from this?

There are many reasons why some vehicles are driven much more and others much less. It is important in your financial planning to ensure that your insurer is made aware of this and that it is recognized in the insurance premium payable!

It is also important to recognize that insurance premiums should be individualized to reflect YOUR driving behaviour. With modern insurance telematics technology your insurance can take into account how far you drive, at what times you drive and where you drive. It can even measure how you drive!

A Pay As You Drive insurance policy allows the insured client the benefits of only paying for the distance that he travels. If he drives less, he will be paying less on his car insurance premium.

Perhaps it is the right to scrutinize your car insurance. You may be able to find that you can award yourself with a nice end –of year present – Cheaper Car Insurance for 2012!!

Have a Safe and Enjoyable Festive Season Travel!! Here are the Arrive Alive Road Safety Tips

We would like to invite all insured vehicle owners to read more about insurance telematics and how they can benefit from accurate measurement of driving behaviour.

For more on these products view:

Hollard and Pay As You Drive  - see “Pay As You Drive”

Outsurance and Safe_Driver@Out  – see “Outsurance activates technology to reward safe driving behaviour”

Discovery and Vitality Drive – see “Drivers have an IQ, EQ and now with car insurance also a DQ”

MiWay and MiDrivestyle http://www.miway.co.za/midrivestyle

The designated driver may be the secret weapon in the battle for cheaper car insurance

In the past few years the Arrive Alive website has been approached by many new operators in the transport and small business industry – many of these providing weekend transport to those who go “on the night out”! It is of the utmost importance for road safety that we remove the drunk and impaired drivers from the roads. There is consensus amongst road safety officials that the answer to achieving this is enforcement – not only enforcement from our traffic officials – bit more important, self-enforcement!

The more road users we find self-breathalysing and monitoring their blood alcohol levels, the lesser the risk on our roads. The best advice however remains to use a designated or a zero alcohol level driver. This can either be a friend who is not drinking or a driver from a company who provides this facility at a price.

We usually look at the designated driver from a safety and sober driving perspective only. Bit are you aware how important this might be for your car Insurance premium?

Importance of the Designated Driver for Car Insurance

To consider the importance of the designated driver we should emphasize a few important aspects used in the calculation of car insurance premium:

• The insured car
• The insured driver
• The distance driven
• The time of the day that you drive
• The area where you drive
• Claims history etc

Through the application of the data provided by vehicle telematics these are factors that have become of ever increasing importance to the insurance company. Your car insurer will be aware that the greatest risk to car insurance claims is young drivers driving at night and especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. Driving at these times by young drivers is most often associated with speeding, impaired driving and not only by the driver of that specific vehicle, but also other road users sharing the roads.

By rather pooling funds and paying the designated driver you may be able to save on the risks to your car insurer. You will be driving less at these dangerous times and reduce the risks of unnecessary insurance claims not only brought about by your own driving , but also the fender benders and more serious damage from other impaired drivers! Not only may you avoid increases brought about by additional claims, but you will also be able to travel less with your own vehicle – making ot possible for you to benefit from Pay As You Drive Car Insurance premiums!

We would like to urge all our vehicle owners to do some research on designated driving companies in the area where they live. Keep their numbers on your cellular phones and stay on the safe side- ALWAYS!!

A very important aspect to keep in mind is always “How much is too much to drink before I drive?”

Also view:

• Insured vehicle owners need a reality check about drunk driving
• Do not mix energy drinks and alcohol before driving
• Drunk driving could sharply increase your car insurance premium!
• Will my car insurance pay if I drive drunk?

• Drunk Driving and Car Insurance
• Drunk Driving and Road Safety

Be Alert to the Car Insurance needs for ridesharing, carpooling and lift clubs

There is a worldwide drive towards reducing motorized transport. Transport officials are focusing much of their attention on reducing traffic congestion by reducing the number of vehicles on our roads as well as increasing the opportunity for public transport.

One aspect which needs to be emphasized as well is the benefits of ridesharing through lift clubs. Earlier this month our Road Safety Partner Eqstra announced the launch of BestLiftClub.co.za.

We have also shared information on lift clubs, ridesharing and carpooling on the Arrive Alive website, and would like to quote from this:

What is ridesharing / carpooling?

It is a way of people sharing their cars with others who are traveling in the same direction. Commuters that live near each other and share a common destination can travel together in one vehicle and form the simplest and most common “carpool” arrangement. Carpooling is an ideal cost saving arrangement, particularly for those individuals who commute long distances to and from work each day, have limited access to public transit and few transportation options available to them.

Types of carpools

Designated Driver Carpool

This carpool generally has one driver and one or more passengers. The driver provides the vehicle and passengers pay a daily, weekly or monthly fare based on expenses such as petrol, maintenance and parking.

Alternating Carpool

Enjoy the simplicity of a carpool in which driving is alternated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Costs are incurred only during the period in which you are required to drive. Or, put simply — when you drive you pay, when you ride it’s free.

Employer Carpool

Some employers encourage employees to share the ride to and from work by allowing the use of company vehicles. Employees pay a fare to offset additional petrol, maintenance and insurance costs. As most company vehicles sit idle in parking lots after business hours this system can benefit both employers and employees. Employers can save their parking for paying customers while demonstrating their environmental responsibility and employees can save money.

Carpooling is not only flexible and economical but also helps reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and consumption of non-renewable energy resources.

Benefits of ridesharing/ carpooling

Ensure a Healthy Environment for Future Generations

There is a more tragic cost related to automobile use: degradation of our environment. Every day, millions of vehicles pump pollutants into our atmosphere. Some of this fall to earth, fouling streams and contaminating crops. Others rise into the stratosphere, damaging the ozone layer and causing global climate warming – the “greenhouse effect”.

Still more of these pollutants cling close to earth, inhaled with every breath we take. Air pollution is a proven cause in several lung ailments, from asthma to emphysema.

Ridesharing reduces the impact of automobiles on our roadways and our environment very simply – by traveling in groups rather than alone, ridesharing decreases the number of vehicles on our roads.

Save Money

Carpooling or ridesharing can save you up to half of all your petrol and maintenance costs and in some cases eliminate the need for the costly second family vehicle.

Arrive feeling relaxed

We’ve gone from ox-wagon to millions of cars on South Africa’s roads. Increased road rage and gridlock affect everyone. One of the greatest benefits of sharing the ride to work is taking the stress out of driving. Read, sleep, work, socialise or just plain relax instead of being stuck behind the wheel yourself.

NOTE: Be Alert to the Implications of Ridesharing and Lift Clubs on your Car Insurance

It is important to be vigilant to the importance of having the vehicle used for ridesharing correctly insured! Ridesharing may allow the opportunity for vehicle owners to benefit from Pay As You Drive Car Insurance where those vehicle owners are traveling less in their own cars.

It is however also important to ask the following questions:

• Which vehicles are we using – is it one vehicle or do we take turns using the vehicles of all vehicle owners?
• What is the “purpose of use” of the vehicle?

We need to be aware that where money is involved and paid for the use of a specific vehicle for transportation – the insurer of that vehicle may deem such a vehicle as being used for business purposes – and thereby putting it in a new insurable risk bracket….

Best advice would be for the owners of vehicles in a Lift Club or Car Pooling arrangement to contact their insurers, to explain their specific scenarios and to confirm in writing how the vehicle is to be used.

This will help to avoid nasty surprises and agony at the time an insurance claim is submitted!

Also view:

Ridesharing, Carpooling and Road Safety

Does your insurer know for which purpose you are using your vehicle?

Is the Gautrain changing travel patterns and car insurance needs?

On Carte Blanche on Sunday there was a small documentary on the ease and speed with which commuters can travel from Pretoria to the JSE in Sandton JHB by using the Gautrain. A comparison was made between the time and travel of driving with a Porche and travelling by train.

It appears that many people are travelling with the Gautrain on a daily basis, and this number is set to increase!

What will the impact be of increased accessibility to quality public transport in Gauteng?

I would like to share a few observations I have come across in the budget speech delivered by Ismail Vadi, MEC of Roads & Transport Gauteng. He made a few very important points in his speech on public transport and I would like to focus on some of them.

• Impact and importance of Public Transport

“It should be evident to all of us that our public transport system impacts in a very real way on the lives of our citizens; no less than the provision of education or the rendering of health services. It has become an issue of intense public interest and concern. It is precisely for this reason that the Gauteng ANC, at its Provincial General Council held last week, resolved that an affordable, safe and reliable road and public transport network, based on an overall transport master plan, are essential for a vibrant global city-region.”

• Traffic Volumes on Roads in Gauteng

“At the same time, traffic volumes on our roads are extremely heavy. In total, 66 million vehicle-kilometres – that is the total distance travelled by all vehicles in one day – are travelled by about 4 million cars every day on the roads in our province. This totals to 24 billion vehicle-kilometres annually. Over half of the provincial roads in Gauteng carry more than 5000 vehicles per day and 38 percent of the roads carry more than 10 000 cars per day.”

• Need to preserve and Repair the Road Network

“These facts say something to all of us. It says that we must act quickly and decisively to preserve our road network. The Department, therefore, has taken a strategic decision to focus on repairing, maintaining and rehabilitating our roads, rather than focusing on constructing new roads. This we must do to guarantee safety to our motorists; and to minimise the excessive road reconstruction costs that we will incur over time if we neglect to repair them timeously”

• Public Perception and Impact of Gautrain on Public Transport

“A public survey conducted in February this year shows that people in general are very positive about Gautrain. The opinion survey shows that:

- Gautrain is seen as improving and transforming public transport;

- its leadership is seen as having the ability to compete on an international level;

- 80 percent of respondents indicated that they are likely to use Gautrain; and that it has a positive, distinctive and recognisable brand perception.

Will improved Public Transport affect Car Insurance needs?

What is quite clear from the above comments is that Government is committed to providing and improving quality public transport. There is a need to reduce traffic congestion by improving public transport facilities and services, and an understanding that the success in doing so will enable thousands more to commute via train and buses.

As thousands of commuters may enjoy the benefits of public transport, many will travel less in their personal vehicles and may also seek to adjust their car insurance policies to that of policies developed around a Pay As You Drive structure.

We would like to invite vehicle owners to investigate the benefits of Pay As You Drive Car Insurance.

There are effective ways to cut down on the cost of transportation!!

What does a Blond do to cut down on the cost of fuel?

What do you do to counter the ever increasing cost of transportation? What is the cost of transportation? We could include in these costs the following:

-          Fuel

-          Vehicle maintenance – Cost of tyres, wear and tear and vehicle components to be replaced etc

-          Car Insurance

-          Time spent in traffic [ If we use the often quoted term “time costs money”]

South Africans counter the increased costs of transportation by doing the following:

-          Cutting down on unnecessary travel

-          Increased usage of public transport

-          Spouses travelling together and not in separate vehicles

-          Lift clubs and travel with colleagues to work

-          Working more from home by benefitting from the increased affordability and access to the internet.

There has been a significant move towards public transport in South Africa. The Gautrain and improved bus services in the metros with the launch of the BRT systems are attracting hundreds of thousands of new commuters.

As we drive less with our own cars we need to be reminded that this should have an impact on the risk of insurance claims from accidents as well! Consider a car insurance product that recognizes these reduces risks and that is designed around the distance that you travel.

Pay As You Drive is the insurance product that is designed with this in mind. We would like to advise road users to compare their insurance quotes with that of distance based insurance products!

Better public transport will also deliver an opportunity for cheaper car insurance premiums!

The Department of Transport should be commended for the efforts to improve public transport in South Africa. Even though many might regard recent developments as small steps, they are indeed much needed and they might prove to have a giant impact on road safety, the environment, economic development and financial stability.

The efforts to improve public transport is not only in line with the objectives as detailed in the Decade of Action for Road Safety, but is also aimed at reducing traffic congestion on our roads and the emission of CO2 gases.

More and more South Africans are using bus and train transport. Earlier today there were very positive signs for the Gautrain project as thousands of commuters travelled the new route between Johannesburg and Hatfield. Last year I took the Bus Rapid Transit System [BRT] from central Johannesburg to Soccer City and must admit to being highly impressed.

MyCiti Bus Service in Cape Town

Two weeks ago I was equally impressed at seeing the MyCiti bus service in Cape Town and have been told that friends in Blouberg Beach have used this service to their satisfaction as well! Similar services are also rolled out in other provinces with feeder buses providing transport from the main bus stops.

A lesser obvious benefit, but a very important one in this challenging financial environment, is the benefit for these commuters in saving not only time and effort, but in other transportation costs as well!

Commuters need to monitor the distance travelled in their vehicles – and if such distance is significantly reduced through the use of public transport, they need to consider a Pay As You Drive car insurance option. Users of public transport can save on fuel and vehicle maintenance costs BUT ALSO on car insurance where the car insurance policy is structured around the distance that they travel!

Vehicle owners need to monitor their car insurance premiums and compare the premiums payable with the premiums they will be paying when the average distance travelled is reduced. Distance travelled is one of the most important parameters used in the calculation of Car Insurance Premiums!

Comparing insurance quotes remains the best way to finding cheaper car insurance premiums. We would like to advise that this be done yearly – and especially when there are significant changes in the driving behaviour of our insured vehicle owners!