Ontario s Collision Reporting Centres Celebrating 10th Anniversary And the Renewal of their Operational Contract: Accident Support Services

Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Collision Reporting Centres are celebrating ten years of serving the Ontario Public, Insurance Industry and Police, as well as the renewal of their operational agreement with the Toronto Police Services, on Tuesday February 1st, 2005.

Accident Support Services International Ltd. (ASSI) www.accsupport.com, the company that helped to create, and have been managing Collision Reporting Centres (CRC�s) across the Province of Ontario, has proven that streamlining an essential service, and making it more efficient, is possible.

Prior to the opening of CRC�s ten years ago, citizens were forced to wait at the side of the road for Police to arrive, and then write-up a report for even the most minor of property damage (no physical injuries) collisions. And Police, who were already short staffed, were spending, on average, 1.5 hours dealing with these minor collisions. The danger of secondary collisions (getting hit by another vehicle) for both the Police and the drivers(s) was also a concern.

With the CRC�s, citizens have the convenience of showing-up to a reporting centre of their choice after their collision. And Police involvement has gone down to as little as five minutes per report.

The program has proven to be such a success that the Toronto Police Services Board, who had initially granted a ten year contract for the Collision Reporting Centres, has just renewed the agreement for yet another term.

Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino stated that the CRC�s �have been of great benefit to all parties involved,� and that in particular �the Toronto Police Service has recognized the efficiencies that the program has brought to our operations.� �The Program puts an additional 50 Officers back on the street.�

Jim Pletsas, a special investigator with Wawanesa Mutual Insurance was recently quoted in a National industry related magazine stating �There is nothing more I could add to this product�. �What I like most about it is that the information is collected in real time, and is available to us in real time!�

And with the Collision Reporting and Occurrence Management System – CROMS, drivers are seeing their insurance claims being closed out in days, as opposed to weeks. This internet-based program allows an insurer, who has a client filing a claim, to see the details of the collision, immediately after the details have reported at a CRC.

CROMS collects the relevant details of a collision, and because it is internet based, encrypts it, allowing the transfer of the documents to all relevant Insurance, Police and Government officials. This has eliminated the duplication of data entry and will save both time and money throughout the Insurance, Police and Government industries.

For further information:

Mike Marsden
Sales and Customer Relations Officer
Accident Support Services Int’l Ltd.
416-745-3301