“Accident-Prone.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20374, 3 July 1934, Page 6

“Accident-Prone.”

Small. Number of Motorists Cause Damage.

tSpecial to the ** Star."> LONDON. May 24. “ TN THE LAST FOUR YEARS the insurance companies have had insurances on nearly all the motorists on the roads, and they know their records,” said Mr Aled Roberts, M.P., in the House of Commons. “If the Minister would investigate the matter, he would probably find that well over 50 per cent, and it may be up to 75 per cent, of all the persons who are insured for private cars are entitled to a no-claim bonus. “ An insurance company does not pay a no-claim bonus to anybody who has had an accident, and if somewhere between 50 and 75 per cent of all the motorists on the road can have a no-claim bonus, that means that only 25 per cent have had accidents during the previous year. Quite a considerable proportion of motorists are entitled to a higher no-claim bonus, because they have had no accidents for two years, and another proportion, still quite considerable, are entitled to the maximum no-claim bonus, which means that they have had no accident for three years. It comes to the same thing. “If you examine these figures, you will find that there is a small proportion of motorists who do nearly all the damage. They are accident-prone people. The insurance companies know them. There ought to be some means by which the Minister of Transport can collaborate with the insurance companies. If he is going to deal with this question of driving tests or with the efficiency of new drivers, he ought to be able to weed out this particularly dangerous section of drivers.”