Truck Insurance Underwriting- Data on Tank Operations

Most agents are understandably a bit bored with respect to underwriting. You hear about flatbed accounts being worse for liability writers and refrigerated carriers having worse cargo losses. That being said, the government is getting better with their data. Take the case of tank operations. Here is what you got ( from Professional Safety Consulting discussion):

• Over 1,300 cargo tank rollovers are reported each year
• 31% of ALL fatal commercial truck rollovers involve cargo tanks
• 93% of cargo tank rollovers occur on dry road surfaces
• Over 50% of cargo tank rollovers involve leaving the road
• 28% of cargo tank accidents involve driving too fast for conditions
• 44% of cargo tank rollovers occur on curves (including ramps); 56% on straight roads
• 25% of cargo tank rollovers involve straight trucks
• 66% of cargo tank rollovers involve drivers with more than ten years driving experience
• 78% of cargo tank rollovers involve some kind of driver error
The US DOT is working with its partners in industry, including carriers and vehicle manufacturers to significantly reduce rollover accidents.

Here is the challenge for our industry. We need to know what this all means.What was the insurance cost and the non-insurance cost of 1300 cargo tank rollovers and therefore what would be the loss cost? What is the insurance cost and the non-insurance cost of all the cargo tank fatalities? Should an underwriter or actuary impose a higher severity factor on cargo tank operations based on these statistics? What is the frequency of loss ( I assume it is much lower than your standard trucker.)?

The bottom line is this data makes us more knowledgable; however, it does not point to a particular solution or epiphany. We will get there with more data. Stay tuned.