Road crashes cost insurers $87m as distracted driving plagues Barbados – GIAB

Distracted driving is causing a surge in road accidents in Barbados, with insurers paying out $87.6 million in claims for death and serious injury last year, the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB) said on Wednesday. The association warned that the frequency of accidents remained alarmingly high and called for urgent action to reduce incidents and save lives.

“The motor claims for last year, they crept up a little bit to 87.6  million. Before, it was $86 million. A million-dollar difference. I can’t say it had any spike in the claims; but the numbers are still too high overall,” GIAB President Randy Graham told Barbados TODAY on Wednesday.

Although the payout was just $1.6 million more than for 2023, and well short of the $100 million which officials had predicted for the whole of 2024, the insurance industry is still “deeply” concerned over the loss of life and the number and frequency of road accidents in a small country such as Barbados, he said.

Claims costs had surged from $59.1 million in 2020 to $83. 1million in 2022, prompting concerns about a potential $79 million payout in 2024.

Against a backdrop of 18 deaths and 4 472 accidents reported by police for last year, and annual claims payouts which had been escalating at a staggering rate, with figures for 2020 to 2022 indicating a yearly increase of approximately $12 million, Graham insisted that too many motorists are abusing the roads and placing innocent lives at risk.

“The frequency of accidents,” he said, “has not changed. We are still seeing between 6 000 and 6 500 accidents in a year. This is way too high. That cost is really the cost of repair, parts, to pay for injuries and legal fees. But once the volume remains at 6 000 and 7 000 accidents a year, you would always get that kind of payout. We really got to reduce the number of accidents on the road if you want to make a dent in the data and save lives. So, it’s the frequency you got to deal with in Barbados.”

The insurance executive reported statistics from the police of 7 400 accidents registered in 2023.

“They got too many accidents already on the road. We don’t make parts here, and most people fly in new parts. So, these things are contributing [to the cost]. So, what we got to do is stop the accidents in the first place, and that would control the cost,” he explained.

Graham pointed out that the most common cause of accidents is distractions, citing evidence gleaned by insurers after an accident.

He said: “It is clear. It is proven. You would be surprised how many times people giving reports of accidents and they would tell you ‘dem don’t really know what happened. It happened so fast, I can’t tell you what happened.’ That normally suggests that the driver was distracted, either looking at their phone, thinking about something else other than driving on the road, or they are looking back to see what the child is doing in the back seat.”

The GIAB leader advised motorists against acting in such a manner when driving.

He disclosed that 75 per cent of accidents on the roads are caused by drivers being distracted when at the wheel.

“If people would just focus on the roads while driving,” the GIAB president suggested, “we could cut the rate of accidents significantly, but you got to get people to focus while driving. We are absolutely hoping to reduce the number of accidents this year. We really want to reduce the loss of life on the roads firstly. People die in these accidents and you know, there is a real hurt to their families. So, we want to stop those altogether.”

Graham’s wish for 2025 is to get people focusing while they are driving and cutting the accidents on the roads so there is no  loss of life.

“We would like to see,” he suggested, “at least 1 500 of these accidents cut this year. Given the size of Barbados and the number of cars that we got on the road, I think it is reasonable to expect 4 000, 5 000 accidents a year. It would happen because of the number of cars. But when we start talking 6 000 and 7 000, that is outside of the normal of most countries…and given the per capita that we have. So, we have to reduce at least 1 500 accidents a year, and we could do it, if drivers just focus.”

Graham said the industry is employing an education campaign to advise people to follow the road rules and to focus on the roads.

He said the insurance industry has done some work with the authorities regarding the proper use of roundabouts among other things.

“Roundabouts are being completely misused. So, we have to educate people on how to use the roundabouts again,” the GIAB head said.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb