Road trauma is the biggest killer of young people in the world. Reductions in the incidence and severity of road related trauma is of paramount importance to society, aimed at reducing the personal and economic burden to injured people and flow-on impact to families and the broader community. The UN estimates that the economic cost of road trauma to developing countries alone is at least $100 billion per year. The emotional cost is impossible to calculate. Yet road trauma is preventable. Australia has demonstrated that investment in road trauma prevention is the single most effective way of reducing the impact that it has on the community. The effective and efficient operation of insurance markets plays a vital role in improving road safety outcomes. This can be achieved in areas such as the development of insurance products that help reduce the finance burden of injury; providing education and incentives to encourage safer road-user behaviour; pooling of data to help inform decision making and consumer choice; and, seeking to embrace collaborative efforts within competitive environments to provide mutual benefit to stakeholders and society. This paper provides a brief overview of the nature and characteristics of insurance markets, highlighting key challenges. The paper aims to provide additional insight when developing and considering opportunities for insurance markets to deliver better road safety outcomes. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting