INDUSTRY OBSERVATION

With the 2010 soccer World Cup on the horizon, I have come up with a few pointers which may be useful for not just our clients and members of the public, but also for the many foreign soccer fans and other visitors expected to flood into the country between May and July this year.

For foreigners travelling in our country:

• The risks of driving on secondary ‘offhighway’ routes during the hours of darkness are not worth it. Plan your route carefully, allowing extra time for any delays and hindrances that may arise due to poor road conditions. In fact I would seriously recommend that foreign visitors do not drive at night at all. The risk of a hub or axle hitting a pothole is just too great and that means a possible breakdown in unfamiliar territory.

• Night vision, as we all know, means reduced reaction times. With some of the crater-sized potholes out there, this is no laughing matter. A sudden swerve to avoid hitting a pothole could very easily end in tears.

For our clients:

Let’s take a look at some of the claims which have been submitted recently.

• Axle damage on trailers. To be honest, this is a grey area. There is always the implication that the driver was driving too fast for the conditions of the road or that the driver simply did not care about or look out for the ‘craters’.

• Driving on the R103 recently, I saw an unladen trailer bounce through crater-sized potholes. Yes, bounce – not just hop! On this one, the tradeoff between negligence and actual damage is very difficult to determine. We, as underwriters, are having a difficult time of this. Very often these cases end in commercial claims calls.

Look at the photograph accompanying this article. This not so little obstacle is a bit more than your average suburban pothole! How does one honestly come to terms with such a situation? Fortunately, the challenge for the insurance assessor is quite straightforward. By applying the ‘reasonable man’ test it can be determined that, even if the driver had not been entirely and completely cautious, this was an incident waiting to happen and very much out of the driver’s control. In this case, the owner of the car can expect a full and proper settlement.

To summarise, my point is that there will always be a trade-off between negligence and actuality. The difference now is that vehicle owners, fleet operators and tour guides have to plan and assume these risks are really out there and therefore train and route accordingly. There is just no alternative, or we will see a steep rise in this type of claim.

Here at HCV we are entreating our clients to plan, plan, plan and be alert! We know it is difficult but with the ongoing deterioration of South Africa’s road network, it has to be done.