12/09/2009

 

Wondering why car insurance is so pricey in the GTA? Read the following article to find out:

Only 2.5 collisions per 100 insured cars occur in St. Thomas, the study found. On the other end of the spectrum, Thornhill, Ajax, Maple, Brampton and Bolton make up the bottom five communities with the highest crash rates, led by Thornhill, which  experienced 6.6 collisions per 100 insured cars. Allstate released the study findings December 8.

"Allstate's first Ontario Safe Driving Study shows that communities in the Greater Toronto Area have collision rates more than twice as high as some other Ontario communities," says Tony Irwin, Manager of External Affairs at Allstate Insurance Company of Canada. "However, there are several communities across the province in which drivers have reduced their number of collisions."

In regional results, Northern Ontario led the areas with the lowest crash rate in Ontario (3.5 collision claim/100 cars), while the GTA ranks as the bottom of the five Ontario regions (5.5 collision claims/100 cars). Out of the 49 communities examined in the study, the 14 with the highest crash rates are all located in the GTA.

The study ranks communities and regions by analyzing car collision frequency using Allstate date from 2006-2009. The results were also compared to the same data from 2003-2006. To ensure that the data provided realistic conclusions only communities with at least 900 cars insured by Allstate over the three-year period were included in the study, and three year periods were used to obtain a larger sample for more meaningful analysis.

The study’s purpose was to boost discussion about safe driving and increase awareness of the importance of being a tolerant and attentive driver. It is not used to determine auto insurance rates.

Other highlights include:

Along with leading the safe driving rankings, St. Thomas also shows the greatest improvement from 2003-2006 to 2006-2009.

St. Thomas showed a 25 per cent improvement from 2003-2006 to 2006-2009.

Southwestern Ontario is the most improved region from 2003-2006 to 2006-2009.

Cornwall and Georgetown show the biggest proportional increases in car crash claims over the two, three-year periods.

As reported by Alex Vizer, Dec 8, 2009

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