DriveCam Video Systems announced on Feb. 12 that the company's DriveCam video event recorder has been proven to reduce the administrative and investigative costs in processing insurance claims for fleet operators. A component of the company's complete driver safety program, DriveCam is a palm-sized video recorder mounted behind a vehicle's rearview miorror that captures everything a driver sees and hears in the 20 seconds before, during and after an unsafe driving event. Events are stored in the unit's digital memory along with the level of G-forces on the vehicle. DriveCam's digital recording allows police and insurance investigators to view an event on a TV, VCR or personal computer. Seeing and hearing an event just as the driver did provides them with information critical to determining fault. DriveCam's event recordings are being used to reduce the time required to process insurance claims, thus lowering costs for insurance companies and the fleets they insure, according to DriveCam officials. Cloud 9 Shuttle of San Diego has used the DriveCam event recordings to settle insurance claims, including a multiple vehicle accident. In several cases, the Cloud 9 van was first accused of causing the accident. However, the DriveCam video clearly showed that another vehicle was at fault, according to Mike Forbush, vice president of operations for Cloud 9 Shuttle. Cloud 9's insurance claims representative used the video and amended police reports to quickly negotiate the claim. "Settling these claims without the DriveCam recording would have taken months and would have resulted in our insurance carrier making payments for the other vehicles," Forbush said. "With just one driver's word against another, the insurance carrier usually pays at least 50 percent of the damage. In a multiple vehicle collision, that can include every vehicle that was damaged and any bodily injury. With the DriveCam recording, our carrier was able to settle these claims in days, without making a payment." In addition to lowering claims processing costs, DriveCam has the potential to significantly lower the amount of fraudulent claims. According to an Insurance Information Institute report, property/casualty insurance fraud totaled an estimated $24 billion in 1999, or about 10 percent of claims. The report states that fraud is more prevalent in auto insurance, where the large number of relatively small claims that must be processed by insurance companies within a short period of time provides opportunities for fabricating medical and auto repair bills or auto theft reports. "One of the problems in reducing fraud is that it is difficult to determine who is at fault," said Ed Andrew, president of DriveCam Video. "Our DriveCam video event recording system captures the human experience and provides an objective view of what occurred that is indisputable." According to Andrew, the DriveCam video event recorder was developed to promote driving safety, security and accountability. DriveCam is used by fleets as part of a complete Driving Feedback System that provides drivers and their managers with accurate, unbiased feedback on their driving performance. The program includes as manager's guide, driver guide, videotape and Event Manager software for logging and tracking vehicle events. Fleets using this program have experienced a reduction in accidents due to increased driver awareness and training, according to Andrew.