Aviva, the sixth largest global insurer, has re-stated its commitment to road safety and has signed a three-year partnership with the Association Prévention Routière.
Aviva, the sixth largest global insurer, has re-stated its commitment to road safety and has signed a three-year partnership with the Association Prévention Routière (APR) (Road Safety Association).
As part of this, the two partners are conducting a public awareness campaign on the dangers of using a mobile telephone or a hands-free kit when driving. Indeed, for several years and as the mobile phone market has developed, the latter has entered the car world and it is now estimated that talking on a mobile while driving increases the risk of having a crash five-fold for hand-held mobiles and four-fold for hands-free mobiles.
"Just to tell u I’ll b home in 2 tonnes"
The awareness campaign which started on 20th October 2011 will appear in a press magazine and on signposts until mid-November. Four visuals will be identified to each highlight the very same risk: using a mobile phone or a hands-free kit while driving. The idea behind this campaign is to use written road markings and replace them with mundane and everyday conversations. The aim: to make drivers think so that they behave more responsibly in their vehicle.
Aviva has also drawn up a quiz on the internet for the public so that it can test its knowledge of the highway code. So what is the aim of the quiz? To remind road users of the importance of respecting the highway code for their safety and that of others.
A partnership with a long-term perspective
The previous partnership signed in 2009 mainly related to professional customers through the “Charte Entreprise Citoyenne de la Route” and aimed to provide companies within the road transport sector and Aviva customers with a methodological framework targeting the reduction of road hazards and CO2 emissions.
This new partnership now involves the general public. The Association Prévention Routière will provide Aviva with its expertise regarding road hazards so that preventative actions can be jointly conducted.
“Since 2009, we have been partners with the Association Prévention Routière and by signing this new partnership we are again proving our commitment to reducing the number of accidents, through prevention, on roads in France,” stated Fanny Serre, in charge of social responsibility for Aviva France.
A small reminder about what the highway code says:
Using a hand-held telephone whilst driving is banned. (Article R412-6-1 of the highway code).
The penalty is a €35 fine and two points (soon to be three) will be shown on your driving licence. Cyclists face the same fine but no penalty points. As for the hands-free kit, it is not banned by the highway code. However, a driver who is not able to perform “easily and instantly the manoeuvres incumbent upon him” when using a hands-free kit whilst driving may be committing an offence based on article R412-6 (€35 fine but no penalty points) (jurisprudence of 2003). www.preventionroutiere.asso.fr
-ends-
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Notes to editors:
About Aviva
Aviva is the sixth largest insurer in the world and one of the ten main players on the French market.
Its business is split between life insurance and long-term savings and general insurance. Mainly intended for individuals and small and medium-sized companies, Aviva France’s product line is complete (car insurance, health insurance, house insurance, pensions, savings and retirement) and is distinguished by a multi-distribution model which is accessible to the public across the country through more than 800 agents, 400 Aviva advisers and 1,000 brokers. On a daily basis, Aviva France identifies the specific needs of its three million customers and offers them turnkey solutions, through its Bon Conseil (Good Advice) approach.
About the Association Prévention Routière
The association, according to the law of 1901, was created in 1949 and recognised as a public charity since 1955. The aim of the Association Prévention Routière is to reduce the number and severity of road traffic accidents. It carries out its actions in several areas: road safety education of children and adolescents, awareness and information for the general public and on-going training of drivers. The 101 county committees of the association and its 1,500 volunteers can each run thousands of local activities to educate users of all ages and backgrounds to traffic risks.