American Family Insurance Named 2008 E-Fusion Award Recipient
Program Developed with DriveCam Wins Annual Insurance Award
SAN DIEGO – December 3, 2008 – DriveCam Inc., a global Driver Risk Management (DRM) company, announced today that its partner, American Family Insurance – and its Teen Safe Driver Program – has been named the recipient of A.M. Best Co.'s E-Fusion Award for 2008.
The Teen Safe Driver Program (www.teensafedriver.com) is used by parents to teach and motivate their teen drivers to reduce crashes and claims. Young drivers are up to 10 times more likely to be involved in an automobile accident than their parents.
American Family partnered with DriveCam Inc. for the Teen Safe Driver Program in a bid to try to reduce teen-related auto crashes, insurance claims and epidemic-level fatalities.
"This is a tremendous honor for American Family and great recognition of the importance and value of this program. We believe it's an innovative and effective use of technology to address a critical industry and public safety issue, and we're certainly pleased that you agree with that," said William B. Westrate, vice president of personal lines for the Madison, Wis.-based company, just after American Family received the E-Fusion Award.
Parents can attach the Video Event Recorder just behind the rear-view mirror of their teen's car. Two camera eyes face the roadway ahead and the passenger compartment inside. The Video Event Recorder is triggered by an event such as hard braking, swerving, taking a turn too hard or a crash. After an event is recorded, the system sends audio-visual information to DriveCam via wireless cellular phone technology.
American Family never sees the video clips; DriveCam sends pertinent videos, along with a Driver Report Card, to the parents to review with their teen driver. Parents can then see if their child is performing such unsafe driving habits as talking on their phone, text messaging, playing with the radio controls, talking to people in the back seat or generally just not watching the road. Through the program, American Family hopes to produce a 65% improvement in teen driving habits among its insureds.
The judges lauded the Teen Safe Driver Program's value it brings to the company and to the families that benefit from it, along with its strong social commitment.
Jaimie Pickles, president of Canal Partners LLC and one of the judges of this year's award, said he "was impressed with the work that was accomplished to put together the program and feels they've accomplished something that few insurance companies have done, which is to maintain a presence in the mind of their consumers." Because consumers are looking to go back and stay in touch with the program, he said that "it engages the consumer like no other program I've seen in a while."
The annual E-Fusion Award is A.M. Best's way to recognize the best applications of cutting-edge technology in the insurance industry. A panel of three judges evaluated each entry in the contest, and then named three finalists to compete for the award. The finalists then presented their company's project to the judges via a 40-minute webinar.
About DriveCam Inc.
DriveCam is a global Driver Risk Management company that reduces claims costs and saves lives by improving the way people drive. By combining sight and sound, expert analysis and driver coaching, DriveCam has reduced vehicle damages, workers' compensation and personal injury costs by more than 50 percent in over 86,000 commercial and government vehicles. DriveCam has the world's largest repository of events reflecting actual risky driving behaviors. In 2007, Inc. magazine included DriveCam on its list of the 500 fastest-growing, privately held companies in the U.S. for the third consecutive year. For more information, visit www.drivecam.com.