South African Drivers Could See Cheaper Insurance Premiums

Car insurance premiums could become cheaper This is due to government dealing with reckless drivers.

In February next year, the South African government will bring into effect a number of sweeping laws in a bid to deal with the growing number of fatal accidents on our road each year.

Among the laws, anyone who is convicted of driving more than 30 km/h above the speed limit in urban areas, and over 40 km/h outside of these areas will have their driving licenses automatically suspended.

The Gauteng Regional Manager of MUA Insurance Acceptances, Leigh Friend, believes that these new laws could eventually see South African motorists paying less on their car insurance premiums.

Less accidents mean fewer insurance claims and the risk profile of South African drivers would drop, she predicts.

"There are many factors that are taken into account when calculating the premium on a motor vehicle," said Leigh. "However, if we see fewer accidents on our roads then it is highly probable that we could see a reduction in motor insurance premiums in the future."

Another change in the laws could see the number of accidents involving minibuses also drop.

From next year, all vehicles that transport paying passengers will have to be fitted with a directional stability control device so that the risk of the vehicle losing control is minimized if the driver were to brake suddenly.

According to Leigh: "This is a very welcome development as a high volume of accidents do involve minibus vehicles. By minimizing the potential for loss of control we hope that this will reduce the number of accidents."

"Thirty fatal road accidents every day is an alarmingly high number and this is in addition to the thousands of non fatal road accidents, so any efforts that can bring these figures down should be welcomed from both a safety and insurance perspective," she said.