This is the second part of a series of three that wraps up tomorrow on Distracted Driving.
The original intent to reward good drivers with a 15 per cent premium cut in Ontario will ultimately reward bad drivers as well – and that includes distracted drivers.
“The message: ‘Do we want to give the largest dollar premium decreases to bad drivers, or to those who are texting?’ That’s not a great way to do it,” says Sean Graham, vice president, Kanetix Ltd. “The insurance rate should be commensurate with their risk, and those are risky drivers.”
The 15 per cent target set by the Ontario government last spring has been roundly criticized by an auto insurance industry that has been struggling with tight margins. One broker who sells auto insurance in the Greater Toronto Area, and asked not to be identified, told
Insurance Business that their clients would not be seeing a reduction - but unfortunately the public announcement has brokers answering a lot of questions from drivers wondering when they are getting their auto insurance rebates.
The Ontario MPP who pushed through the legislation, Jagmeet Singh, has said drivers are “tired of waiting” for their auto insurance cuts, but the industry is tired of being characterized as profit-hungry billionaires, says the Ontario representative of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Ontario representative Ralph Palumbo defended that province’s insurers, telling Insurance Business that “insurers have done more than their share,” adding that statements like “‘the industry is making billions’ is just crass political opportunism,” and only misleads the public.
It can be likened to the road to hell being paved with good intentions. (continued.)
Do you believe the 15 per cent premium cut arbitrarily rewards good and bad drivers alike?
#pb#
“These auto decreases happening over the next couple of years, originally they were intended to help the good drivers,” says Graham. “They’re not necessarily there to help those who are closing their eyes while they are driving, or making a phone call for half an hour while they are on the road. Those aren’t the people who should be getting a 15 per cent decrease.”
For more, also see:
'Careless' hiding true distracted driving numbers
