Keeping you and your loved ones safe on the road
If it's never happened to you, can you imagine what those first few seconds following an accident may be like? If it has, you know just how critical those seconds truly are - especially when help is quickly dispatched.
State-of-the-art technology in the car insurance space is fundamentally about having mechanisms that, not only encourage safer driving, but also provide effective incident support. In our line of work, we see the positive impact it can have on our clients every day.
How telematics drives better behaviour and can save lives this holiday season
The end of the year sees many South Africans packing their going-away bags and leaving worries behind for a couple of weeks. It also sees an increase in traffic volumes and, unfortunately, accidents.
Last year's festive season saw 1,451 people lose their lives on our roads, and studies show that driving behaviour is a major factor when it comes to vehicle and overall road safety.
We've found driving behaviour as the number-one cause for accidents and deaths on South Africa's roads. Clients who use a telematics device have a 56%* lower motor accident fatality rate compared to clients who do not use a device.That's why Discovery Insure uses intelligent technology to measure driving behaviour so we can enhance safety features and our clients can help make the roads safer.
What is telematics?
A technology that helps change behaviour is telematics. Telematics uses sensors that collect, transmit, and process information, like how you accelerate, when you hit the brakes, how tight your cornering is, whether you use your phone while driving, and if you stick to the speed limit. We then assess the information and allocate our clients with Vitality Drive points which are used to determine a Vitality Drive status, which gives them an easy way to understand how they drive and how they can drive better.
How does the Vitality Drive Sensor work?
With Vitality Drive, clients can choose between three telematics devices: the Vitality Drive Sensor, the Crowd Search Sensor (which includes stolen vehicle recovery), and the Standalone DQ-Track (if you don't have a compatible smartphone for the Vitality Drive Sensor or the Crowd Search Sensor).
The Vitality Drive Sensor makes monitoring how you drive simple, so you can improve your habits and earn more points for driving well. When used together with the Vitality Drive app, it's a powerful tool that gives insights into driving behaviour.
The sensor is easy to install on the inside of a windscreen, which also means it can detect and log aspects of a trip without needing a smartphone inside the vehicle. The sensor provides detailed, real-time trip feedback shown on a map, so clients can see how well they drove during each trip and where they can improve.
The Vitality Drive Sensor also enables intelligent safety features like:
- Impact Alert
- Vehicle panic button
- Find my vehicle
- Weather warnings
- Motion Alert
An insurer that innovates
By combining the Vitality Drive Sensor and the information from the app, it's easy to improve driving behaviour with each trip and stay safe on the road. Discovery Insure's claims data shows that crash-related claims have reduced by 26%* in the past ten years, thanks to the use of the Discovery Insure app and Vitality Drive telematics device.
Being an innovative insurer, Discovery is ahead of the curve to help enhance its offerings, and telematics is just one of the ways that we use intelligent technology to keep clients safe this holiday season and beyond.
No matter the telematics device you choose, our state-of-the-art innovation provides peace of mind, an intuitive rewards experience, encourages better driving behaviour, and ultimately helps save lives.
Sources:
*Vitality Drive White Paper, 2021.
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