Search results

AbstractThe transition to semiautonomous driving is set to considerably reduce road accident rates as human error is progressively removed from the driving task. Concurrently, autonomous capabilities will transform the transportation risk landscape and significantly disrupt the insurance industry. Semiautonomous vehicle (SAV) risks will begin to alternate between human error and technological susceptibilities. The evolving risk landscape will force a departure from traditional risk assessment approaches that rely on historical data to quantify insurable risks. This article investigates the risk structure of SAVs and employs a telematics‐based anomaly detection model to assess split risk profiles. An unsupervised multivariate Gaussian (MVG) based anomaly detection method is used to identify abnormal driving patterns based on accelerometer and GPS sensors of manually driven vehicles. Parameters are inferred for vehicles equipped with semiautonomous capabilities and the resulting split risk profile is determined. The MVG approach allows for the quantification of vehicle risks by the relative frequency and severity of observed anomalies and a location‐based risk analysis is performed for a more comprehensive assessment. This approach contributes to the challenge of quantifying SAV risks and the methods employed here can be applied to evolving data sources pertinent to SAVs. Utilizing the vast amounts of sensor‐generated data will enable insurers to proactively reassess the collective performances of both the artificial driving agent and human driver.

peer-reviewed ; An extensive number of research studies have attempted to capture the factors that influence the severity of vehicle impacts. The high number of risks facing all traffic participants has led to a gradual increase in sophisticated data collection schemes linking crash characteristics to subsequent severity measures. This study serves as a departure from previous research by relating injuries suffered in road traffic accidents to expected trauma compensation payouts and deriving a quantitative cost function. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Crash Injury Research (CIREN) database for the years 2005-2014 is combined with the Book of Quantum, an Irish governmental document that offers guidelines on the appropriate compensation to be awarded for injuries sustained in accidents. A multiple linear regression is carried out to identify the crash factors that significantly influence expected compensation costs and compared to ordered and multinomial logit models. The model offers encouraging results given the inherent variation expected in vehicular incidents and the subjectivity influencing compensation payout judgments, attaining an adjusted-R-2 fit of 20.6% when uninfluential factors are removed. It is found that relative speed at time of impact and dark conditions increase the expected costs, while rear-end incidents, incident sustained in van-based trucks and incidents sustained while turning result in lower expected compensations. The number of airbags available in the vehicle is also a significant factor. The scalar-outcome approach used in this research offers an alternative methodology to the discrete-outcome models that dominate traffic safety analyses. The results also raise queries on the future development of claims reserving (capital allocations earmarked for future expected claims payments) as advanced driver assistant systems (ADASs) seek to eradicate the most frequent types of crash factors upon which insurance mathematics base their assumptions. ...

AbstractThis paper examines the potential impact of the European Union's Environmental Liability Directive (ELD)1 on the nanotechnology (NT) sector. In terms of risk governance the ELD represents a new paradigm, affording the environment an enhanced status both in legal and indeed ontological terms. However, the nature of the NT industry itself is such as to create complexity in the implementation of the ELD. Whilst the field of nano-toxicology is making advances, debate still prevails around issues pertaining to exposure, (eco)-toxicity, metrics, potential impact and legal causation. Levels of uncertainty remain high and hence measuring environmental impact is problematic. The paper addresses the potential environmental liability exposures of NT manufacturers and producers pursuant to the provisions of the ELD and by extension highlights the importance of the insurability of the liability risk all of which bears significance for the sustainability of the industry. It also examines the legal and regulatory challenges of the application of the ELD in the context of the NT industry, highlighting the challenges which this pervasive technology presents for regulatory policy. A cursory discussion of the legal theoretical underpinning of the directive helps to explain the rationale of the directive.

Nanotechnology governance, particularly in relation to human and environmental concerns, remains a contested domain. In recent years, the creation of both a risk governance framework and council has been actively pursued. Part of the function of a governance framework is the communication to external stakeholders. Existing descriptions on the public perceptions of nanotechnology are generally positive with the attendant economic and societal benefits being forefront in that thinking. Debates on nanomaterials' risk tend to be dominated by expert groupings while the general public is largely unaware of the potential hazards. Communicating via social media has become an integral part of everyday life facilitating public connectedness around specific topics that was not feasible in the pre-digital age. When civilian passive stakeholders become active their frustration can quickly coalesce into a campaign of resistance, and once an issue starts to develop into a campaign it is difficult to ease the momentum. Simmering discussions with moderate local attention can gain international exposure resulting in pressure and it can, in some cases, quickly precipitate legislative action and/or economic consequences. This paper highlights the potential of such a runaway, twitterstorm. We conducted a sentiment analysis of tweets since 2006 focusing on silver, titanium and carbon-based nanomaterials. We further examined the sentiment expressed following the decision by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to phase out the food additive titanium dioxide (E 171). Our analysis shows an engaged, attentive public, alert to announcements from industry and regulatory bodies. We demonstrate that risk governance frameworks, particularly the communication aspect of those structures must include a social media blueprint to counter misinformation and alleviate the potential impact of a social media induced regulatory and economic reaction.

In general, a functioning liability and insurance framework should ensure an adequate level of third party claimant protection and a reasonable and adequate final allocation of liability costs for the involved parties. This research examines whether the liability and insurance framework resulting from the amendment to German Road Traffic Act meets these two central objectives. The article shows that a reasonable and adequate allocation of liability costs is inhibited because of several barriers that hinder the shift of liability costs from the owner of the vehicle to the manufacturer. In particular, it is highly dependent on the practical application of subrogation claims. The ability and the motivation of motor insurers to conduct subrogation claims could be negatively affected because of a lack of required technical and engineering know-how and because a market-wide conduction of subrogation claims would erode the business model of motor insurance. This article proposes changes to the current framework particularly by removing specific exclusions of product liability and by easing the burden of proof of a product defect.

peer-reviewed ; Background: From February 2020, both urban and rural Ireland witnessed the rapid proliferation of the COVID-19 disease throughout its counties. During this period, the national COVID-19 responses included stay-at-home directives issued by the state, subject to varying levels of enforcement. Methods: In this paper, we present a new method to assess and rank the causes of Ireland COVID-19 deaths as it relates to mobility activities within each county provided by Google while taking into consideration the epidemiological confirmed positive cases reported per county. We used a network structure and rank propaga tion modelling approach using Personalised PageRank to reveal the importance of each mobility category linked to cases and deaths. Then a novel feature-selection method using relative prominent factors finds important features related to each county's death. Finally, we clustered the counties based on features selected with the network results using a customised network clustering algorithm for the research problem. Findings: Our analysis reveals that the most important mobility trend categories that exhibit the strongest as sociation to COVID-19 cases and deaths include retail and recreation and workplaces. This is the first time a network structure and rank propagation modelling approach has been used to link COVID-19 data to mobility patterns. The infection determinants landscape illustrated by the network results aligns soundly with county socio-economic and demographic features. The novel feature selection and clustering method presented clusters useful to policymakers, managers of the health sector, politicians and even sociologists. Finally, each county has a different impact on the national total.

AbstractCybercrime is estimated to have cost the global economy just under USD 1 trillion in 2020, indicating an increase of more than 50% since 2018. With the average cyber insurance claim rising from USD 145,000 in 2019 to USD 359,000 in 2020, there is a growing necessity for better cyber information sources, standardised databases, mandatory reporting and public awareness. This research analyses the extant academic and industry literature on cybersecurity and cyber risk management with a particular focus on data availability. From a preliminary search resulting in 5219 cyber peer-reviewed studies, the application of the systematic methodology resulted in 79 unique datasets. We posit that the lack of available data on cyber risk poses a serious problem for stakeholders seeking to tackle this issue. In particular, we identify a lacuna in open databases that undermine collective endeavours to better manage this set of risks. The resulting data evaluation and categorisation will support cybersecurity researchers and the insurance industry in their efforts to comprehend, metricise and manage cyber risks.