NATIONAL POST
(You
can go now to the I Promise Program – teen safe driving initiative:
Thursday, September 6, 2001
Risk Management / Section E / page E2
By: Terrance
Belford
I “promise” to reduce car accidents among teens
More than a decade of working with people with brain injuries turned Gary Direnfeld into a crusader of sorts. As a social worker and then operator of a private rehabilitation program, he had seen, first-hand, the carnage caused by accidents involving teenage drivers. He knew the statistics by heart. In the United States, for example, those aged 15 to 20 who account for only 6.7% of all drivers, cause 14% of all fatal crashes.
He had the will and commitment to do something to reduce the risk posed by teenagers behind the wheel. What he lacked was an effective program.
Then, about 18 months ago, Mr. Direnfeld was driving to Toronto from his Dundas, Ont., home at about 5:30 a.m. when two unrelated events happened to him. The two incidents helped form the basis for a risk-prevention program for teenage drivers that is now embraced by the auto insurance industry.
“I was going along at the speed limit, maybe a bit over, and this Camaro literally blew past me”, he recalls. “It was driven by this young buck. He was going way too fast and I thought, ‘Boy, I would sure like to tell his parents just how their son drives’. I thought once they knew, they would literally rip the keys right out of his hands.”
Then, as he was still muttering under his breath, he looked up and saw the back of a transport truck in the next lane. There was a large sticker on the rear door that read, “How’s My Driving?” followed by a phone number for motorists to express their opinions about the driver’s skills.
“That was the start of it,” he says.
“What we needed to reduce risk of accidents among teenage drivers was a way to hold both child and parent responsible for the child’s actions behind the wheel.”
That clear insight spawned the birth of the I Promise Program. Mr. Direnfeld along with Jan Lowther, former publisher of the Canadian Underwriter magazine, started a private initiative to promote the campaign.
The Dominion of Canada general Insurance Company of Toronto, this countries 10th largest insurer, has already signed up and will begin offering the program to its policyholders starting in the new year.
What sets the I Promise Program apart from other teen driving safety initiatives, such as provincial graduated licenses and premium discounts for those who pass approved driver education courses, is that the campaign is based on a signed contract between teen and parent. Both agree in writing to a series of explicit conditions and specific penalties.
Those conditions and penalties cover such things as when and how the vehicle is used by the teen. Parents agree to provide a car that is safe, maintain its safety and abide by the same set of driving standards as those imposed on their son or daughter.
“The contract applies to both sides,” Mr. Direnfeld says. “The pot can’t call the kettle black. Parents, for example, can’t say they didn’t know the tires were bald or that the brakes hadn’t been checked if an accident happens.”
To enforce the safe driving conditions, the I Promise Program provides signs for the rear window of the vehicle, encouraging motorists to call a 1-800 number to report any driving infractions. The I Promise organizers have a 24-hour call center to accept and record comments from callers. Those comments are then mailed to the parents of the young driver.
“What I like about this program is that it isn’t paternalistic or pejorative,” says Mr. Direnfeld. “As a contractual obligation which applies to both parents and teens equally, it shows respect for both sides. If this was something parents just enforced on their teen, they would most certainly rebel.”
Similar programs in the United States are already showing positive results.
A study by the Hanover insurance Company of Massachusetts showed that similar programs have helped reduce accidents by 22% with a relative53% reduction in damage costs related to accidents.
Mr. Direnfeld says a modest 10% reduction would translate into huge savings in property damage.
Both the philosophy behind the program and the promise of cutting financial losses sold George Cooke almost immediately. Mr. Cooke is president of the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company and chairman of the board of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
“I was involved in the development of Ontario’s graduated licensing program. I think there also have to be better ways of creating good public policy,” he says. “Whether it is socially acceptable or not to say it, young drivers are simply worse than older drivers. Coming up with creative ways to manage the risk they pose is a lot more productive than treating the injuries they cause.”
Mr. Cooke says Dominion will roll out the I Promise Program to its policyholders starting Jan. 1, 2002. Details such as premium reductions or who pays the cost of the program have yet to be worked out.
“We are at the stage where there are different ways to design the program,” Mr. Cooke says. “[Mr. Direnfeld] wants to go at the new year, but if we can persuade other insurers to go earlier or later, we would favour that approach.
“The thing is, this program seems to have a good chance of being effective in reducing the risk posed by teenage drivers.
“The more companies we get on board – maybe even sponsorship from petro companies – the better the chance of the program succeeding.”
Contact: Gary
Direnfeld gary123@sympatico.ca www.ipromiseprogram.com