AAMI will conduct a research project to test if financially rewarding young drivers in New South Wales encourages safer driving behaviour, reducing accidents and injuries.
The project, funded by the NSW Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance regulator, will test the skills of up to 500 young drivers by using the telematics feature – AAMI Driver Rewards – in the AAMI app.
Michael Miller, Suncorp Group’s CEO Commercial and Personal Injury, said the research will focus on young drivers as they are most at risk. “Younger drivers are at higher risk of having more accidents than older drivers and because of that, in New South Wales, they pay significantly more for their CTP insurance,” he said.
“Trying to change driver behaviour to make our roads safer is never easy, and tragically we have seen this reflected in the road toll every year. This means governments, industry and the community are constantly having to come up with innovative solutions to find new ways to tackle this challenge.
“We have to keep trialling new technology to see what works. Anything that has the potential to improve driving behaviour and reduce road accidents is worth trying.
“Fewer accidents means fewer injuries and that means lower CTP premiums.”
Miller said the recruitment drive will commence in the next few months. “Once the driver enables permissions through the AAMI app at the start of the research period, the app will automatically track the user’s driving without them touching it for six months and score them on key behaviours like speeding, acceleration, cornering, braking and phone use,” said Miller.
“They’ll be offered financial incentives over the course of the project and, based on their scores, they could end up with more than $100 worth of rewards.
“We’ll then analyse the data and work with SIRA (State Insurance Regulatory Authority) to see if this approach can help improve road safety for young drivers and reward them for good driving behaviour.”