Motorcycle insurance: Fact and fiction

Anton Felice's contribution (March 29) regarding motorcycle insurance made very interesting, if somewhat disturbing, reading.

To paraphrase, what he basically said was that bike insurance has become a high, rather than medium risk exercise because now pillion passengers will be covered as from May 1. High risk compared to what? Is the perceived risk higher than, say, a coach load of tourists? Or two cars with five persons apiece crashing head-on? What statistical data are being used here?

Dr Felice goes on to cite an example where the unfortunate death of a pillion rider has incurred an award of Lm135,000. What he did not state was whether this poor soul died due to the motorbike rider's fault or whether it was caused by a third party driving a car, truck, van or whatever.

If, as I suspect, a fair proportion of bike pillion deaths are caused by the drivers of vehicles other than motorcycles, then it stands to reason that the higher premiums brought about by these "new" risks should be apportioned pro-rata to the circa 250,000 car drivers and not just the approximately 10,000 motorcyclists. All of us remember that Santa Marija accident which happened not too far from the Cirkewwa ferry terminal where both rider and pillion lost their lives, due to a car driver's tragic miscalculation.

I can mention many more similar cases but the sobering fact is that, generally speaking, car drivers kill bikers and/or their pillions, while it is extremely rare for a car driver or passenger to be killed by a motorbike. So is it fair for bikers to be penalised for accidents caused by car drivers?

I am not against insurers raising their premiums by a fair and reasonable amount but what I disagree with is the arbitrary across-the-board increases on all two-wheel policies. I am very reliably informed that they are doing this because they do not have the technical expertise to assess risks in a scientific manner, so they put all machines in one bag according to a very flawed rating system based solely on cubic capacity.

At least one serious and forward-looking insurance company is trying to introduce a system whereby risk is more scientifically calculated by using a number of criteria such as power-to-weight-ratio, class of machine, rider age and others, but nothing has materialised yet. I myself was deeply involved in this exercise so I know exactly what I am talking about.

So while the introduction of new systems takes time, a lot of thought and a proper actuarial exercise, in the meantime bikers are suffering an unfair financial burden.

However, I would like to suggest an interim solution until the situation is sorted out.

Firstly, there are many machines that are designed to carry one person only. These simply cannot take a pillion because they have neither a seat nor foot pegs. These can easily revert to the lower "pre-EU accession" premium costs because virtually nothing would have changed to increase risk.

Secondly, careful bike riders ought to be rewarded with a no claims discount as are careful car drivers. There is no logical reason for this discrimination to continue.

Thirdly, owners of (normally very slow and little used) classic or vintage motorcycles should also be offered the reduced rates that are offered to owners of classic and vintage cars.

What I'm suggesting is not rocket science and could be introduced almost immediately with a little goodwill. This would surely reduce the ill-feeling that many motorcycle owners are now feeling towards both insurance companies and, rightly or wrongly, the government.

My last point concerns the Green Card cover. It has been stated that since all insurance policies will now automatically include cover for driving abroad, premiums must increase to reflect this perceived "increased risk". I'm being a bit cynical now, but shouldn't it be the other way round? After all, local driving is so atrocious that the more time Maltese drivers spend driving abroad in far more disciplined countries, the less the risk. So taking my cynicism one step further, if anything, Maltese bikers riding abroad should have their premiums reduced!