South African insurer Santam has released a free mobile application for Android and iOS devices that lets its customers report accidents or other incidents for insurance claims and that allows a user to ask their friends or family to virtually follow them using GPS functionality.
Called “Be Safe” (we’d have preferred “Please Stalk Me”), the tracking functionality is intended to provide users with peace of mine when they’re out climbing mountains, trekking through jungles, riding their bicycles around town, or simply staggering home from a night on the town.
Friends or family members (or anyone else the user grants permission) will receive a notification when the user they’re virtually tracking arrives at their destination or if the user is delayed.
Users choose how they’re getting about (driving, cycling, walking or running) and where they’re going from and to. The user can also estimate when they expect to reach their destination — though given how poor people are at estimating time this could lead to false alarms. Finally, the user selects who they want to be able to track their progress and those people can track the journey on a live map using a smartphone.
The Accident and Incident Reporter, meanwhile, lets users document and report things like car accidents by taking pictures, recording audio (like witness statements), scanning the barcode on a vehicle licence disc and even locating the nearest police station. Non-Santam clients can still use this feature and email the collected information to their own insurer.
Of course, whether or not you want your insurer tracking your movements is another matter. One wonders how long it will be before insurers insist on their users allowing tracking and adjust premiums accordingly. For now, Santam assures us that user data isn’t viewable by the company and privacy is paramount. Download the app here.