With St. Patrick’s day just around the corner this office full of Irish insurance agents has started thinking about our roots and what our family business would be like if we had stayed over in the old country. It turns out, it would probably be a bit weirder:

-Traditionally, Insurers in Ireland have had to deal with three major problems that have driven up rates: a young population (with new and risk-taking drivers), substandard roads that are often hundreds of years old, and too much time spent at the local pub. In 1998, the Motor Insurance Advisory Board made a major push at safety reforms and education and rates began to decrease but they are inching up once again

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-In 2015 a giant, runaway Minion caused a major traffic jam for commuters in Dublin!

-94% of all Irish people thank their bus driver.

-One of the most famous insurance fraud cases of all time occurred in Ireland in 1933 when a gang of 5 criminals took out three life insurance policies on “Iron Mike” Malloy and then tried to get him to drink himself to death.

-Crossing a railroad track while riding a bicycle is illegal in Dublin.

-In 2013 one town in Ireland passed a  controversial resolution to allow police to issue special permits to allow people to legally “drink and drive” home from their local pub.

-A 2014 Study of drivers in Ireland and the UK found that women scored higher on knowledge of rules of the road but men scored better on a test of driving skills.