Collisions with animals are increasingly hurting insurers | Financial

This is evident from figures from the Data Analytics Center (DAC) of the Dutch Association of Insurers. The number of collisions with animals has risen sharply in recent years from 5,750 in 2014 to 8,603 last year.

Precious technology

“The increase in costs of a collision has everything to do with the increasingly complex damage repair and the more expensive parts for cars,” explains spokesman Iwanna de Jonge of the Association. “More and more cars are driving with complex road safety systems, some of which are even mandatory for new cars. As a result, there is a lot of expensive technology in car parts such as bumpers, which makes repairs expensive. ”

“In addition, it is increasingly busy in traffic and smartphone use behind the wheel is also contributing to the accidents. That is why we continue to emphasize to politicians that distraction in traffic must be tackled, ”says De Jonge.

Large regional differences

The DAC has also looked at where most collisions with animals take place, and there are large regional differences. De Jonge: ,, By far the most collisions with a deer, boar or other (wild) animal occur in the province of Gelderland (1300), while Flevoland (290) has the fewest collisions. There are many so-called hot spots where a lot of collisions take place and we believe that local authorities in the provinces should warn motorists at those places. ”

In 2020, despite several lockdowns, most of the collisions took place in the months of April (966) and May (1023). The Association suspects that because of the ‘corona pressure’ in the nature of hikers, wild animals more often leave their permanent area and thereby become the victim of an accident.

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