Cash Rewards for Singapore’s Courteous Motorists

A first-half of 2018 results released by the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) found an 11.8% increase in incurred car insurance claims, totalling S$291.3 million for the interim period, despite fewer reported accidents. GIA infers that these losses could be due to “accidents becoming more severe and possibly involving more serious injuries.”

Meanwhile, a recent study by independent consumer research firm ValueChampion has revealed that latest road traffic accident figures do show that reckless driving is still a real cause for concern, possibly accounting for more than half of recorded accidents in 2017.*

Budget Direct Insurance says it aims to help tackle the issue of reckless driving with a “Spot Good Motorists” campaign to encourage good driving behaviour. The online motor insurance company is urging motorists to submit their dashcam footage showing acts of safe and courteous driving. The winning participants who submit the selected footages will each be rewarded with a combined cash and voucher pay-out amounting to a total of $100.

The campaign is being carried out in partnership with Facebook Page Beh Chia Lor, one of Singapore’s leading dashcam platforms.

It follows the insurer’s previous initiative in which participants who captured the selected footages of dangerous driving on their dashcams and submitted through Beh Chia Lor would receive prizes. Budget Direct Insurance would in turn, also avoid insuring the bad drivers caught on camera. That campaign caught the attention of Singapore’s motoring community with an overwhelming number of submissions, says Budget Direct Insurance.

But now the insurer is turning its spotlight on safe, courteous drivers and motorcyclists.

Simon Birch, CEO of Budget Direct Insurance, said: “Our campaign to catch and avoid insuring bad drivers was a big success. We were overwhelmed with submissions. Many motorists were pleased we were taking such a strong stance on bad driving. But now we feel it’s only fair that we reward good drivers too.

“As a car insurer we believe we have a responsibility to support road safety in whatever way we can. These campaigns are just ways that we can play our small part and to help tackle this issue particularly when it comes to reckless driving.”

ValueChampion’s above-mentioned study also found that although there is an overall trend of Singapore’s roads becoming safer, “reckless driving remains a significant problem.” Whether it’s speeding, not turning carefully, or not maintaining a proper lookout. Such actions that could qualify as reckless driving account for more than half of recorded accidents in 2017.

The study report by ValueChampion concluded that the issue of reckless driving was not surprising given “the increase of distractions present in the car ranging from cell phones to Bluetooth and entertainment systems. Furthermore, it also shows us that driving in Singapore can be a high stakes game filled with stress and desire to get to a destination as quickly as possible.”

A spokesman Daryl Fong from Beh Chia Lor shared that most dashcam videos they received show car accidents in which the driver had either lost control of their vehicle or was purposefully engaged in dangerous driving.

He added: “We do not encourage reckless driving, we are here to promote road safety among all motorists. We will do all we can to help deter any senseless and careless driving. And that’s why we’re keen to join this campaign and to play a small part in helping improve our roads by encouraging good driving behaviour on our Facebook page.”

The dashcam videos entries submitted through Beh Chia Lor for the “Spot Good Motorists” campaign will be selected by a panel consisting of representatives from the Beh Chia Lor team and Budget Direct Insurance, based on a specified criteria. Each winning participant who submits a selected video will receive $100 worth of prizes.

*Full report in ValueChampion including road traffic accident statistics.