I have a dispatcher named Sam. Her real name is Samantha. Problem is her grandfather’s name was Sam and therefore she grew up being called Sam. What does this have to do with the sad state of the ground transportation Insurance industry. Probably nothing. Unless you factor in the case that my nickname as a young child was “shut up” but nonetheless, that is irrelevant to the discussion.
A few summers ago, Sam and her family went to Six Flags Great America. They get on a ride called the “Tornado”. The Tornado which has since been retired and removed from the park was like a giant human toilet. You are propelled on a raft from a large tube and circle this huge toilet like structure and spin around a bit and wind up exiting the other end into a pool.
While Sam and her family were spinning around the bowl something went wrong. She feels it was likely a unique rush of water and her positioning but either way she was ejected from the raft and thrust into the side of the ride at quite a high speed. The pain was intense and after being pulled out of the pool by park staff she had to seriously consider requesting an ambulance or going home on her own. She decides to go home and sleep it off. The next day she went to emergency room as the entire side of her body was bruised and blue.
After being discharged and in receipt of a hefty 4 figure bill she calls Great America to report her issue. Although they were very accommodating during the incident and on the follow-up phone call, they politely advised her if she reads her ticket stub, they make it very clear that the ticket holder agrees to hold Six Flags harmless for personal injuries and other liabilities that may arise from their visit.
A Six Flags Great America ticket stub (and the ticket itself) acts as a waiver and an assumption of risk, meaning the ticket holder agrees to hold Six Flags harmless for personal injuries and other liabilities that may arise from their visit to the park. By using the ticket, the holder agrees to the terms and conditions which are part of the contract for admission.
Seriously, none of this should be a surprise. Numerous venues, specifically sports stadiums, have similar rules. The term “The Baseball Rule” is one example that has had its share of challenges. Specifically, one where a father gave his daughter a ticket and she attended the game. She took a foul ball to the face, and it caused horrible long-term injury and pain. Her claim in court is that she never purchased the ticket therefore never read the extreme terms and conditions. This case has moved into the arbitration phase.
Realistically, we cannot present a hold harmless document to a fortune 500 executive as he enters your SUV. However, we can acknowledge if he is a fortune 500 executive then he is also heavily insured on numerous levels. This client’s exposure extends to liable and slander, product liability coverage for every widget that rolls off his assembly line. Sexual harassment, life insurance and numerous other potential exposures we never heard of.
The root of the problem is if we pick up his maid for her annual jaunt to Vegas, she may likely ride to EWR in the same SUV. I suspect many of our passengers are being transported in overly insured vehicles because we allow the insurance industry’s business model to operate as such. In essence, your vehicles, whether they are sedans, SUV’s or buses are basically chauffeur driven defendants, and most of our payload are wannabe plaintiffs disguised as passengers.
This is not rocket-science. Our country has scores of trucking, delivery and car rental firms that are self-insured. Self-insuring your property or collision is a very common occurrence and there are many members of our industry doing it. Some do it officially with some form of escrow to babysit the money while others play insurance roulette and keep their fingers crossed until the title is lien-free.
The real challenge is liability. There exists an instrument known as self-insured retention which essentially subsidizes one’s primary policy and then a standard policy takes over in the event of a larger loss. Then we have the captive insurance structure which is typically group based and provided by third party providers. Bottom line is with a large group of participants this is the time and the way to end years of overinsurance and consistently overly litigating every 122nd trip we perform. And there is no law that prevents us from adding hold-harmless elements to our trip or service agreements.
In closing, think outside the box. Line up your people, perhaps your local association, even invite the local school bus company. There is strength in numbers. BTW, One last tip. Consider launching this revolutionary program with
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