LOWER INSURANCE RATES COULD RESULT IN MORE DEATHS

Efforts by the Canadian province of Alberta to lower motor premiums could end up with more deaths and higher premiums in the long run, according to Norma Nielson, chair of insurance and risk management at the University of Calgary. “If you have a system that keeps really bad drivers on the road, you have more accidents, you have more claims to pay and you actually kill a few more people”, Ms Nielson told the Alberta Automobile Insurance Rate Board this week. The board is holding public hearings as part of its first review of the province’s premiums.