Haven't you been vaccinated?
Your insurance may become more expensive (Photo: Reuven Castro)
These are also the effects of the long covid, a new study conducted among 11 million drivers in Canada found a disturbing connection between refusal to get vaccinated and the chance of being involved in traffic accidents.
The study authors compared accident reports and the vaccination status of those involved in accidents during the year 2021.
During the study period, 6,682 accidents occurred that required hospitalization.
Of the victims who arrived at the hospitals, only 16% were unvaccinated, but in 25% of the accidents unvaccinated people were involved.
That is, a high percentage of unvaccinated drivers were involved in accidents that were not on the side of the victim.
According to the researchers, statistically unvaccinated drivers had a 72% higher risk of being involved in a traffic accident than vaccinated drivers.
This is a level of risk equivalent to drivers suffering from sleep apnea, above drivers suffering from sugar drops (hypoglycemia), but a little better than driving drunk.
This level of risk appeared consistently in the unvaccinated group regardless of age group, economic status and gender.
A link was found to the risk of involvement in traffic accidents similar to those suffering from apnea (photo: official website, fire and rescue)
At the same time and despite the results, it is important to note that finding a connection between not being vaccinated and traffic accidents was not the purpose of the study, and the connection between the things is only a correlation between the two data, and is not causal.
And yet the researchers put forward several hypotheses about the connection between the things.
One of them was the lack of trust in the government or in power and the perception of individual freedom not to be vaccinated as such which is also reflected in the violation of the traffic laws and the risk associated with them.
Another reason could be a mistaken perception of the level of risk in everyday life, a belief in "natural protection", a negative attitude regarding regulations, exposure to erroneous or partial information on vaccines as well as that related to safety.
In other words, it cannot be said that being vaccinated against the virus makes you better drivers and not being vaccinated impairs driving abilities.
But it definitely indicates that the type of person who chooses not to get vaccinated will be one who may also be involved in a car accident.
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The headache of the insurance companies
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And what may seem like a causal relationship, or one that cannot be converted into valuable information, may be of great interest to the insurance companies.
that a central part of their occupation in determining the premium costs is the actuarial field - which is used by the companies to assess the level of risk considered in the insurance.
Although it is unlikely that the privacy laws will allow insurance companies to directly ask the insured whether he is vaccinated.
However, it is impossible to rule out other techniques that will be available to link vaccination or non-vaccination and the determination of an insurance premium for drivers.
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