Insurers can play a role in the national police’s new campaign against the use of mobile phones behind the wheel.
This first planned mobile phone enforcement campaign of 2017 takes place this week, with police forces running education campaigns and targeted operations to catch motorists who use their phones while driving.
Chief constable Suzette Davenport, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said the campaign aims to make distracted driving as socially unacceptable as drink driving.
“Encouraging results from last year’s campaign against mobile phone use show how effective new tactics and innovative approaches can be,” she said. “Officers will continue to use intelligence-led tactics to target police activity and resources and catch repeat offenders.”
In November, 36 police forces joined the campaign, stopping 10,012 vehicles and detecting nearly 8,000 mobile phone offences. More than 7,800 fixed penalty notices were issued, hundreds of verbal warnings were given and 68 court summons were recorded.
Technology firm Wunelli said insurers can be part of the cause and improve their customer engagement at the same time.
“Thanks to the increasing sophistication of telematics data analytics, most telematics insurance products enable insurers to detect whether a motorist is using a smartphone at the wheel – whether hands free or hand held,” said Selim Cavanagh, vice president of telematics at Wunelli.
“In fact a driver using a mobile phone produces data similar to that of a drunk driver. With this knowledge the possibility opens up to engage, educate and incentivise customers to drive more safely,” he added.
Cavanagh said clients who don’t use their mobile phone behind the wheel want this driving behaviour to be reflected in their premium.
“It’s clear that consumers want to be rewarded for driving safely and particularly if they can prove that they don’t use their mobile phone while doing so,” he said. “Telematics based motor insurance can help open up that exciting possibility for insurers.”
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