Facility Association (FA), a non-profit association of auto insurers serving as the “insurer of last resort” for commercial drivers, announced that it is launching a telematics program for truck drivers in Alberta.
Effective May 01, the program aims to help truck drivers and operators by cultivating good driving habits and correcting poor driving behaviours that are observed through a video-enabled telematics device. FA partnered with technology firm Foresight Insurance Analytics to run the program, and Foresight will install the telematics device on participating trucks.
The telematics device will generate a score for the driver on a daily basis, and will be shared online with the customer – this allows them to correct any poor driving habits and improve their score. Poor driving habits that the device can detect include red light violations, distracted driving, following too close, hard braking, late braking, weaving in and out of lanes, pushing too hard on the gas, harsh turning, no seatbelt, and lane violations.
According to a release, enrollment in the telematics program is voluntary, and participants will qualify to receive a premium reduction of up to 8% as an incentive for signing up. FA also gave assurances that it does not have access to, nor receives any of the data used to generate drivers’ scores.
Ultimately, FA hopes that the telematics program helps truck drivers get back to the standard insurance pool.
"One of FA's primary objectives is to have as minimal market presence as possible. When we see trends of our market share growing like we have in Alberta with interurban vehicles, we look for ways to try and get drivers back into the standard market," said FA president and CEO Saskia Matheson. "There are a variety of reasons why drivers end up with FA, but poor driving habits or behaviours are the most common.
“Being insured through FA is meant to be temporary. We believe that consumers are best served in an open and competitive insurance market and this new telematics program can help them get there."
"Since 2018, our market share of trucks in Alberta has increased significantly,” said FA vice president of underwriting, claims & operations Fadia Charbine. “FA saw a 47% increase in vehicle count in 2021 over 2020, and a further 14% in 2022 over 2021. We know this is not sustainable going forward and it's the primary reason this program needed to be launched now.”
FA also stated in its release that it intends to explore opportunities to introduce the telematics program in other provinces.
Last August, FA launched a similar telematics program, but for taxi drivers in Ontario. The program came into effect December 01, and was also aimed at getting taxi drivers back into the standard commercial auto insurance market.
