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Insurers Rubber Stamp SatNav Safety
Article by: robert
Date: 18 Aug 2010
 In the light of ever-growing concerns surrounding the safety of SatNav use in cars, it's interesting to note that Santander Insurance UK has announced that it will be giving away TomTom Starts worth £99 to their new car insurance customers.
It would be surprising if they didn't base this decision on some kind of actuarial evidence to back it up (as opposed to general research). If SatNavs actually reduce the number of accidents, this will of course reduce the insurer's payouts.
I suppose the fact alone that SatNavs considerably reduce journey times, could lead to the assumption that the less time on the road, the less chance of an accident.
Darren Cottage, the Corporate and Automotive Manager of TomTom comments on the deal saying, "Research results have shown that driving with a navigation device has a positive effect on driver safety, reduces stress levels and heightens awareness."
The Royal Society For The Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) say that "While these devices can, if used properly, reduce the risk of drivers crashing, they can also increase the risk (e.g., by distracting the driver) if not used properly. In particular, you should not adjust or operate devices while actually driving. For example, routes in the SatNav should be set before the journey starts. If it is necessary to make adjustments or to input new information, only do so when stopped in a safe place."
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 Posted by mikealder on Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:37 pm |
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| News Team Wrote: | | Santander Insurance UK has announced that it will be giving away TomTom Starts worth £99 to their new car insurance customers. |
I guess thats one way to clear the shelves of these devices  - Mike
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| Posted by Guivre46 on Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:19 pm |
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As said elsewhere I second the 'more relaxed' and 'able to concentrate on the road' parts of this. Also confirm that I only tried once to re-route whilst moving and frightened myself so much, I've never done it again. The technology is sound, it is user behaviour that causes the problems.
Mike R [aka Wyvern46]
Go 530T - unsupported
Go550 Live [not renewed]
Kia In-dash Tomtom |
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| Posted by robertn on Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:10 pm |
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| Quote: | | It would be surprising if they didn't base this decision on some kind of actuarial evidence to back it up (as opposed to general research). |
Thats jumping (to a rather large?) assumption that the marketing guys talk to the underwriting guys. From my experiance in large corporates this seems very unlikely to me. 
Gets pushed around by Thomas |
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| Posted by MaFt on Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:32 am |
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perhaps their theory is that people will have so many issues with TomTom's current models that they will spend more time off the road and at home calling 0845 numbers, browsing our forums for help or smashing it to pieces?!
MaFt
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| Posted by Guivre46 on Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:47 am |
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Your right - probably reading too much into this. It is probably cheaper than giving an initial discount, or maybe they've just run out of parker pens?
Mike R [aka Wyvern46]
Go 530T - unsupported
Go550 Live [not renewed]
Kia In-dash Tomtom |
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| Posted by Kar98 on Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:29 pm |
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That's probably thinking way too hard. It's no more than getting a toaster when opening a bank account, except the "freebie" is mildly related to the sold product.
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| Posted by culzean on Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:03 am |
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Could be that the screen on the TomTom start is so tiny (3.5") that no-one is buying them and Santander got them for about £5 each. Why buy such a small sat-nav when most smartphones have that size screen now, and you can get a Garmin Nuvi 1300 series with a 4.3" screen and better functionality for a few quid more.
I totally agree that when used properly a sat-nav is a very useful aid to safer driving - but then they fit blue-tooth and MP3 to sat-navs which surely encourages people to mess with these devices when on the move!
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