Discovery Insure CEO Anton Ossip said that unvaccinated motorists could end up paying higher insurance premiums after a Canadian study found that people who skipped out on their COVID-19 vaccines were at a higher risk of getting into a car crash.
Ossip made the comments following the findings of a study published in the American Journal of Medicine.
Canadian researchers found that unvaccinated people were more than 70% more likely to be involved in a car accident, compared to those who were vaccinated.
They analyzed the behaviour of those who were not vaccinated.
The Discovery Insure CEO said that while Discovery Health cross-checked the data with their own records, the stats weren’t as high.
The Canadian study looked into encrypted government records of more than 11 million adults, with at least 16% of the adults being unvaccinated.
In essence, the study suggests that people who ignore public health recommendations are also more likely to disregard rules of the road.
Ossip said that it all boiled down to behavioural science.
“We haven’t seen 72%, we’ve seen closer to 30%. It differs by age – some were close to 40% in the higher age groups.”
Ossip said that it was worth considering if unvaccinated drivers should be charged higher premiums for the associated risk.
“It is an interesting exercise and something worth considering, in terms of whether it’s something that’s additive to an existing way of pricing or whether it’s in the data already and we certainly will look at that as a factor going forward.”
Despite the data, the researchers also warn that being unvaccinated doesn’t automatically mean a driver will be involved in a crash.
-EWN
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