Website teaches new drivers about program, offers chance to win gas cards

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By Aloma Jardine
Times & Transcript Staff

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Kate Farquharson thinks the chance to win a $25 gas card is plenty of incentive to get students to check out a website aimed at new drivers.

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ALOMA JARDINE/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT

Moncton East MLA Chris Collins hands out cards directing new drivers to a website promoting the province's First Chance program to Mathieu-Martin students Marie-France Paré, left, and Kate Farquharson. The website offers information about the program, interactive games and a chance to enter a monthly draw to win $25 gas cards.

"With the price of gas and with all our part time jobs, I think $25 would help a lot," says the Grade 12 student at École Mathieu-Martin.

The interactive website, www.firstchance.ca, is a joint project of the province, Teens Against Drinking and Driving, the New Brunswick Insurance Board, the Insurance Brokers Association of New Brunswick, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, and the Consumer Advocate for Insurance.

Moncton East MLA Chris Collins unveiled the gift card campaign at Mathieu-Martin yesterday.

Collins says the First Chance program is a good one, but new drivers need to better understand how it works.

"We need to promote it so more kids are aware that the program exists so when they get their insurance for the first time and go out driving they have more of an incentive to stay within the rules and to be safe," he says.

Farquharson, who is a member of Mathieu-Martin's student council, says this campaign is a great way to help students be more aware of how their insurance rates work and the consequences of not obeying the rules of the road. The First Chance program was introduced in 2005 and provides a discount to new drivers by crediting them with three years of driving experience from the moment they get their licence, six if they take a driver's education course.

However, any driving infraction results in a loss of the "first chance" and a return to the higher insurance rate usually assigned to new drivers.

Paul D'Astous, chairman and CEO of the New Brunswick Insurance Board, says new drivers who lose their first chance see their premiums rise 50 to 100 per cent.

"It is a huge impact," he says.

"But that is why we encourage our young drivers to make responsible choices... We want them to understand that as small as an infraction may be, it is going to impact you economically quite a lot."

D'Astous says new drivers often don't understand just how much their first chance is saving them until it is too late.

In addition to information about the First Chance program, the website offers interactive games, and, of course, the chance to sign up to the contest to win a gas card.

The gas card campaign will run until next August, with draws happening once a month. Participants must re-enter their name each month in order to be eligible to win.