Recent Kwiksure Study Suggests Expat Drivers in Hong Kong More Likely to Make Traffic Accident Claims Than Locals
(PRWEB) August 26, 2013 -- Kwiksure has recently released a study that suggests that expat drivers in Hong Kong are much more likely to make claims for traffic accidents than local drivers. Although there has been a higher number of claims from locals so far this year, the number of claims relative to the number of drivers is much lower than that of expats.
So far in 2013, Kwiksure has reported 314 claims from HK locals, which is approximately 1.16% of the number of policies KS has activated for HK locals so far this year. However, while only 78 claims have been made by expats, it's approximately 2.04% percent of the number of policies KS activated for expats in HK so far in 2013.
These figures also align with those from last year. In 2012, KS recorded 1303 claims for locals and 332 claims for expats. However, KS activated 40,369 policies for locals and only 6,039 for expats. Along with this year's figures, the proportion of claims to new policies is almost twice as high for expats as it is for local drivers.
The experts at Kwiksure have given several possible explanations for these statistics.
Kwiksure's Motor Insurance Manager Ken Chung states, "Perhaps expats are more likely to get involved in traffic accidents, especially during their first years of driving in Hong Kong, because they have not yet adapted to the HK driving culture." Hong Kong is extremely congested, car parks and driving lanes can be narrow, and many other drivers on the road do not signal when changing lanes. Many of these expat drivers have also come from countries where they were required to drive on the opposite side of the road.
Chung believes that all of these problems are compounded by the fact that a large portion of expat drivers are not required to take a road test to obtain a driver's license in Hong Kong. Chung states, “The HK Transport Department is allowed to grant licenses to expats from certain countries without requiring them to take a driving exam, as long as they have an existing driver's license. This means that many expat drivers are driving on HK roads without the adequate level of preparation.”
Kwiksure experts will continue to track and compare the number of claims from HK expats and locals into the future. For more information visit http://www.kwiksure.com/news/expat-drivers-more-likely-to-make-claims/.
Neil Raymond, Pacific Prime, 31131331, [email protected]
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