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The idea that humans learn well from accidents stands contrary to all available evidence.
by thrownaway2424 11y ago
The idea that humans learn well from accidents stands contrary to all available evidence.
- ajkjk 11y agoWhat evidence? Certainly individual humans (anecdotally: like myself) do.
- tyre 11y agoLook at insurance premiums. Premiums go up after an accident because it is more likely that you are a poor driver and likely to have another accident.
- justinpombrio 11y agoThat doesn't mean that people don't become safer drivers after an accident! It just means that the variance between drivers is more significant than how much a single driver improves.
- snowwrestler 11y agoInsurance companies raise premiums after accidents because there is an excuse to do so. It has nothing do with your likelihood to have another accident, and everything to do with charging you more so that they can attract new customers with a lower price. Premiums go up even if the driver is found to be not at fault.
- aetherson 11y agoI've been involved in several reported accidents that were judged to be fully the fault of the other driver, and my rates have never increased.
- ajkjk 11y agoThere are differences across states as to whether and when it's allowed. That might explain why it hasn't happened to you.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoAnecdote not evidence, but still interesting - I know someone who was no-fault in an accident, and her premiums still increased because the insurance company claimed that statistically anyone who has an accident is more likely to have another, even if it's not their fault.
- ams6110 11y agoSame. I've also had one at-fault accident and my premium went up in the sense that my "accident free discount" was removed for about 24 months. But I eventually got that back too.
- Spooky23 11y agoThey will drop you for being unlucky if they are too closely spaced together.
- kyllo 11y agoRelatedly, my home insurance company dropped me for being unlucky enough to get burglarized.
- snowwrestler 11y agoYes, this is my point: rate increases after accidents are done by choice of the insurance company, not because their risk management requires them to do so, as the grandparent post implied: > Premiums go up after an accident because it is more likely that you are a poor driver and likely to have another accident. No, premiums go up in that situation when the insurance company thinks they can do so and not lose too many customers. As you point out, not every insurance company operates this way. An insurance company only cares about managing risk and revenue across the entire pool. They plan to pay out a certain number of claims, so any given accident might simply be fulfilling the actuarial expectations and not altering their risk calculations at all.
- spicyj 11y agoIt is no more in an insurance company's interest to raise rates arbitrarily than it is for any other company. If one company's premiums are significantly more expensive than other insurers, they'll lose customers – and if what you say was true, any insurance company that realized this could cease the practice and gain many new customers.
- snowwrestler 11y agoThe whole point is that in the post-accident customer's mind it is NOT an arbitrary price increase--the customer feels that they "earned it" by getting into an accident. But all the insurance company cares about is revenue vs. expenses across the entire pool. If they can charge one customer more, it allows them to charge another customer less--like, by advertising a low fee for new signups.
- xyzzy4 11y agoPremiums go up because information is revealed to the insurance company that you are the type of person who gets into accidents. You were always this kind of person, but the insurance company didn't know until it happened. From this point on, you might become less accident-prone than your previous self, but you established that you're more likely to get into accidents than the average 0-accident driver.
- ignoramous 11y agoAnd what evidences are you bringing to the party?
- underbluewaters 11y agoOf course I'd learn from each fender-bender, and I'm clearly a better driver than average anyways! These fancy autonomous vehicles are too dangerous for my family.