The role of Insurance companies to road traffic safety in Cameroon

Abstract: Although road safety is generally based on the areas of prevention, there has been an increasing emphasis on the relationship between insurance, road accidents and road safety. This study was designed to investigate the role of insurance companies to road safety in Cameroon. A sample survey data was used to examine the participation of insurance companies to road safety in Cameroon. The qualitative data analysis carried out revealed that Cameroonian insurance companies’ are mostly involved in compensating road victims as way to promote road safety, which is their businesses and their primary objectives are not to reduce road accidents, but however, driver training (the insured), education and publicity and to a lesser extent traffic law enforcement were carried out by to improve road safety. The bonus malus system was identified to be an ineffective policy in promoting road safety due to the instability of the insured. This study has revealed the many different ways by which Cameroon insurance companies could be involved in road safety and in particular the potential benefits of taking part in road safety issues. Consequently, there is an urgent need for active participation of these companies. The usage-based insurance policies appear to be the best ‘good practice’ recommended to Cameroon insurance companies in terms of the level of challenge and level of priority, in addition to its safety and insurance benefits