What will happen to my insurance if I drink drive?

As you can see from previous post, drink driving is an extremely bad risk. Allow me to use the word, "Terrible".

It goes to show the immaturity and irresponsibility of the driver. Insurers generally dislike writing such risk due to the high bodily injury claims if an accident is involved which can easily escalate to a S$100k loss. And accordingly to the Motor Act, Insurer has to settle any bodily injury claims (first) even if the policy condition is infringed. Ouch!

As such, if you drink drive, do not be surprised at all if your insurer cancel your policy mid-term or decline renewal of your policy. They simply can't afford to write on it anymore due to the risk and hazards elements present.

In the event that you are lucky enough to get a renewal or a new quote elsewhere, the rates and excess will definitely not be low. In fact, do not be amazed if it jumps by few folds which is quite common in the market.

So, if you drink, do not drive.

Some things to be happy about!

Yeah, it is the end of the week and looking back, I realised that there are some things to be happy about and i'm just gonna share it here so that you can also share my joy. If you like, you can leave some notes here or sign up these free programs to experience it as well. :)


1. I have 2 new sign up under my Free Money Team. This is incredible to me though I have yet to reap the reward.

2. I have managed to squeeze in the top 25 surfers for TS25 Free Traffic Exchange last week. For that, I'm now part of the syndicate group and have my credits doubled for every page surfed! How about that? :)

3. I had a surprise breakfast interview with a Director of the world's largest reinsurer company last week. Even though i'm not going to pick up the job due to personal reason, but it is of great honour to be introduced to him by someone i respect.

4. My wife is due for delivery in mid-May and the last scan showed baby is growing healthy at 2.6kg. Most likely, she will hit 3.2kg when she sees us. My life will be filled with joy when that happens!

5. My blog has registered near 1500 hits till date. This is good considering it's barely 2 months old. I realised Entrecard is really wonderful when I understand the concept recently. You gonna try it!

Road accident injury claims rising, questions raised

Claims are sometimes larger than those for repairs, and they are driving premiums up

Motor insurers, which have been battling the scourge of inflated repair bills for years, are now facing a new monster: injury claims arising from road accidents, and not all of them appear to be genuine.

Industry players said the claims, which are sometimes many times larger than those for vehicle repairs, are costing insurers an arm and a leg in payouts and driving premiums up for motorists.

One leading insurer said it received on average 300 injury claims a month last year - more than double the 140 a month it received in 2006.

Another top motor insurer, Axa Insurance, said its volume this year has already exceeded last year's by up to 20 per cent, with whiplash, cuts and abrasions forming the bulk of claims.

'There is a worry about a rising trend in orchestrated injury claims,' Mr Derek Teo, president of the General Insurance Association (GIA), told The Sunday Times. 'Very often, they would pertain to whiplash, which is hard to substantiate or refute.'

Last month, the GIA announced an initiative which it hopes will reduce inflated claims. From next month, motorists involved in an accident will have to inform their insurers within 24 hours.

Industry sources said this was because people were less likely to lie or would have fewer opportunities to collaborate with workshops to submit inflated claims within the first 24 hours of an accident.

But observers pointed out that the new plan would not address rising injury claims, which were sometimes filed days after an accident.

Police statistics show that over 44,000 people were 'slightly injured' on the road between 2003 and last year.

The annual figure crossed the 10,000-mark last year to hit 10,250 - 30 per cent more than in 2003 and outpacing the 16.5 per cent growth in vehicle population since then.

Private investigator Louis Amalorpavanathan of GLA Claims Adjusting and Investigation Services said injury claims have shot up over the last year. He blamed lawyers.

'Most insurance companies are now encouraging direct settlement for repair claims, bypassing lawyers who used to be involved,' he said.

He explained that this resulted in less business for some lawyers who specialised in accident claims, prompting them to scour for injury cases to represent.

Lawyer Monoj Kumar Roy, 47, had this to say in retort: 'That's an unfair statement. Many people in the past did not know they could claim for injuries. How can lawyers drive injury claims if there are no injuries?'

He added: 'Admittedly, there are odd cases of fakes. If insurers think there is no injury, they should fight the case and get it thrown out.'

Another new development could affect the business of lawyers. As of last month, disputes arising from non-injury motor accident claims below $1,000 are no longer heard in court. Instead, they go straight to the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (Fidrec), an independent resolution centre set up in 2005.

The Sunday Times understands the $1,000 cap may be reviewed - and possibly raised - in future.

According to industry sources, the Subordinate Courts may soon make a similar move to outsource injury claim disputes to Fidrec because the number of such cases had exploded.

The Subordinate Courts said a workplan rolling out soon would include changes in this area, but declined to go into details of injury claims being handled now.

The move to divert non-injury accident claim disputes to Fidrec is expected to shave about 1,000 cases off the courts' workload.

By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent

Too old to drive on the road?

Deaths, injuries involving elderly drivers have tripled, but insurers don't see them as unsafe.

More elderly drivers here and in other places such as Japan have been killed or injured on the roads in recent years. In Japan last month, the rising numbers led to the police urging such people - the so-called 'grey drivers' - to give up their licences.

But what makes for a safe driver depends on several factors, and age is only one of them.

Indeed, police spokesman Danny Tan told The Sunday Times that there is 'no specific concern' that old drivers are more at risk on the road.

Statistics from the Singapore police show a tripling, over the four years since 2003, in the number of drivers aged 65 and above killed or injured in road accidents.

In 2003, the death and injury toll was 24. But this shot up to 74 last year. Moreover, last year's figure was a 45 per cent rise from 2006.

But all this has to be seen in context.

In 2006, 179 young drivers aged 30 to 34 were killed or injured on the roads here. Just one casualty shy were drivers aged 50 to 54 that year: 178 killed or injured.

In Japan, the number of drivers aged 70 or older killed or injured in road accidents jumped by 30 per cent over the past six years.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police saw this as an alarming trend and embarked on a campaign to urge elderly drivers there to ditch their cars and surrender their licences.

In Singapore, the police see no reason to have such a campaign.

The police spokesman pointed out that those aged 65 and over make up only about 6 per cent of the 1,252 drivers killed or injured last year.

Insurers, too, do not view grey drivers as a bad risk, premium-wise. Such drivers tend to pay lower premiums than their younger counterparts.

For instance, a 68-year-old who drives a Mitsubitshi Lancer and has been driving for more than 40 years will pay about $700 a year for his insurance premium.

The sum is higher - about $3,500 - for a 23-year-old driving the same model, but who has just got his licence.

Said Mr Justin Yeo, an agent with the American International Group (AIG): 'It is assumed that the older drivers have more experience and are seen to be wiser and safer.'

Moreover, the 75,000 drivers here aged 65 and above - out of 1.4 million licensed drivers - must pass a medical examination every three years to renew their licences.

It includes blood pressure, eyesight, colour blindness and diabetes checks done by a doctor.

Cabbies aged 70 and above who want to continue driving have to take an additional test that is conducted by Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).

Called the 'therapy assessment for elderly drivers', the test has off- and on-road components to test reflexes, reaction time and cognitive abilities, said Ms Lau Cheng Mun, NYP's director of the School of Health Sciences which oversees the occupational therapy driving rehabilitation clinic.

Since the clinic opened two years ago, 65 elderly cabbies have gone through its doors. Sixteen - an average failure rate of 25 per cent - did not make the cut.

TTSH declined to reveal its figures.

One doctor felt this 'therapy assessment for elderly drivers' could be extended to all drivers aged 65 and above. Dr Ivor Thevathasan, 67, from Raffles Medical Group, said: 'By going for this test, older people like me can prove we can still handle the wheel capably.'

The consequence of drink driving

If you are caught drink driving by the Traffic Police, the penalties are as listed below.

Legal Implications
First Time – Fined between $1000/- and $5000/- or six months imprisonment.

Second Time – Fined between $3000/- and $10,000/- fine and imprisonment for a term of up to one year.

Repeated Time – Face enhanced punishment up to 3 times the penalty, a maximum of $30,000/- fine and three years' imprisonment.

Offenders causing death or serious injuries can also be caned up to 6 strokes.

All those convicted will be disqualified from driving for at least 1 year, even if they have not caused any traffic accidents.


Personal Implications
Other than having your license revoked and charged by the authority, you might also face some inconvenience below.

1. Job - If your job requires you to drive, it will be a great blow to your rice bowl. It will be worse if you are enjoying car allowance from your work. If you are transferred to backend staff, most likely the car allowance will be discontinued as well.

2. Finance - The fact that you are not able to drive means your car will not be utilised. This is especially true if there is no one else in your family that can take over. If there is still a loan, the interest will also continue to run. This means added travel costs and inconvenience.

Drink Driving Related Accidents decreased but number of persons caught drink driving increased

Accordingly to Singapore Traffic Polic record, the number of drink driving-related accidents fell from 288 in 2006 to 188 in 2007, a decrease of 100 cases. The number of persons killed in drink driving-related accidents also decreased from 25 to 15. Similarly, the number of persons injured in such accidents decreased from 336 to 263 in 2007. Of these, 7 suffered serious injuries. Appended in Tables below are the number of drink driving accident cases and persons killed/injured for 2007 and 2006 respectively.

The alarming thing is although there is a decrease in drink driving related accidents, but the number of persons caught drink driving increased by 7%. You might think, "So what? It's merely 7% increase!" But wait, do you know that in 2004, the figure is only 2929 and in 2005, it skyrocketed to 3641? It goes to display a consistent upward trend of persons caught drink driving. It means 2 things at least. Firstly, there are likely more checks conducted by the authority. It can also means that more and more people caught drink and drive.

Note what i'm saying here - caught drink driving. There are probably many more who still drink drive and should count themselves lucky that the arm of justice has not reached them as yet.

So, if you want to drink and drive, I urge you to think about your family and friends first. In most cases, the passengers have a lower chances of survival. If you want to drink, don't drive.

Table 1: Number of drink-driving accidents
	2006	2007
Fatal Accident	24	14
Serious Accident	8	6
Slight Accident	256	168
TOTAL	288	188

 

Table 2: Number of persons killed or injured in drink-driving related accidents
	2006	2007
Killed	25	15
Seriously Injured	10	7
Slightly Injured	326	256
TOTAL	361	278

For 2007, more persons were arrested for drink driving, from 3,733 persons in 2006 to 4,009 in 2007. Table 3 shows the number of persons arrested.

Table 3: Number of persons arrested for drink-driving
	2006	2007
Non-accident	3,152	3,447
Accident (includes Non-injury cases)	581	562
TOTAL	3,733	4,009

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But before you dream too much, let's begin the first step by signing up here

Did I drink drive?

Drink driving is an increasing concern, not just for the Traffic Police (TP) and Land Transport Authority (LTA), but also for the insurers.

But, what is drink driving really? If i drink, am i considered drink driving then?



1. Legal limit
You are considered drink driving if you have more than the legal limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath (the blood-alcohol equivalent is more than 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood).

2. Traffic Police judgement
However, you can still be arrested for drink driving should the traffic police think you do not have sufficient control of your vehicle. For example, a driver who is seen driving in a zig-zag manner may have a breath sample registering an alcohol level within the legal limit. But he will still be liable for conviction.


So, how many glasses of beer or liquor will cause one to be drunk or exceed the legal limit? One glass or 1 bottle? Well, I would say it all depends on individual. Some people can hold their liquor even after few glasses of hard liquor while others may be completely drunk after 1 or 2 glasses of beer.

Nevertheless, the moral of the story remains the same. If you want to drink, don't drive. If you drive, don't drink.

1st April update - Not April Fool!

So far, I am still enjoying the trill of blogging. There's been some delay in posting due to work. Its tough as i've just came back from reservist and during this transition, i have a new job offer! The money is there, so is the uncertainty and discomfort of coming out of my comfort zone. . . gosh!

Anyway, that aside, 1.5 months has passed since i first started posting and these are some of the "milestones" achieved:

1. Stats count: 1250 visitors
2. Adsense: $5.30
3. AdToll: $1.22
4. Hits4Pay: $10.60
5. IsbaelMarco: $1.26 (I have not clicked as much as i can.)
6. Clicksense: $0.83
7. e-mailpaysu: $10.345

Well, I have not really made any money online yet. I'll probably need to build on the content (more regular posting) and downline for the exchanges and PTC sites. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have achieve stats count of 1250 visitors and hope more visitors will leave their precious comments here.