Snow and frost can bring tough days even to inhabitants of northern countries. January brought truly wintery weather conditions to Latvia, leading to a dramatic rise in the quantity of weather related traffic accidents. Since the beginning of January, BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (BTA) has received 27 times more CASCO and MTPL insurance claims than in this period a year ago. 

The beginning of 2020 rather reminded an overstayed autumn, not the white season. There was no snow and the weather was unusually warm. In contrast, the January of this year came with a harsh cold, which dropped as close as to -30 C^o in some places in Latvia, with snowstorms and a thick layer of snow. This all immediately reflected on the traffic safety. 

Of all CASCO insurance claims received this January regarding snow and cold, 95% involved traffic accidents. Most often a car had skidded and went off a snowy road, hit a pothole or a snow-covered obstacle, overlooked by the driver. During the freezing rain period, there were also claims for damages inflicted by falling ice clumps having smashed vehicle glass. 

“Although the majority of today’s drivers have experience of yet harsher winters, the first encounter of snow each year is a challenge to drivers. This year is special due to the fact that the snowless pause period was nearly two years long. It turned out to be sufficient for people to forget the snow-induced factors that make driving harder – poorer tyre grip on the road surface, poorer visibility, longer travel distance to halt. Our reminder to drivers is to adhere to safe driving speed and be responsible towards their cars, by fitting season-appropriate tyres and taking care of vehicle technical roadworthiness requirements,” reminds BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department Director Kārlis Liepiņš. 

A curious fact – the number of insured events has risen despite of the considerably lower traffic flow density this year than previous years due to the skyrocketing remote work ratio and public life limitations. 

Another sign indicating the complex conditions on road was the numerous Roadside Assistance service requests received by BTA from its customers. For instance, on January 18, the Roadside Assistance service was requested 52 times during one day, which is 6 times more than during the first week of this year, when there were 8 requests per day on average. 

About BTA
BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 30 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is a clear market leader in its Central and Eastern European markets, and takes care of more than 22 million customers. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange (since 1994) with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange. Vienna Insurance Group works in close partnership with Erste Group – the largest retail bank in CEE. 

Additional information:
Elīna Rasmane
Marketing and Public Relations Department Director
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
e-mail elina.rasmane@bta.lv