Attorney General Anil Nandlall has revealed that the government may soon have to consider amendments to the country’s insurance legislation to provide higher coverage for damages suffered by innocent persons as a result of road accidents.
This, he explained, could result in vehicle owners paying higher premiums, which will have an overall impact on cost-of-living.
However, he explained that this direction may be necessary in light of the continued reckless use of the country’s roadways.
“There is going to come a time where the law in relation to insurance may have to be changed to allow for higher coverage for motor vehicles so that those injured or properties destroyed can benefit from higher insurance coverage,” Nandlall explained during his programme, ‘Issues in the News’.
“Right now, because of the law, it’s at a minimal level where the compensation that the insurance companies pay out bear no resemblance whatsoever to the loss that people sustain and suffer from these accidents.”
“…the coverage is very minimal and as result, innocent people have to spend a lot of money either looking after themselves or repairing their vehicles and properties without any monies coming from the insurance companies of the guilty party.”
He explained that if government decides to make the legislative amendments, it will come at a high price on the population.
“The law has been kept that way because if the law is changed, then insurance premium will have to be increased drastically. As a considerate government, we have deliberately kept the insurance at a particular level because of the impact it will have on persons being able to afford insurance and that is why we have kept it because once that law is changed, and the insurance coverage increases, then, minibus fares will increase, taxi fares will increase, and it will have a ricochet effect on the cost of living.”
However, he acknowledged that a lot of persons who have suffered immensely from road accidents, at no faults of their own, have been complaining of the financial burdens they have to face, with no assistance from the guilty parties.
“A lot of people now are complaining against it and government may have to take a second look at the situation because we have to find ways and means of curbing the negligent driving taking place on our roadways and the negligence generally exhibited by road users in this country.”
“A responsible government has to take steps, steps that may penalise certain sections of the population but if that is what is required, what do you want the government to do?”
“You may be driving very carefully on the road, you may be as sober as a judge but there’s a man whose vehicle is coming at you like a lethal weapon because of his carelessness, negligence, recklessness or perhaps his intoxicated state and for no reason at all, you can become paralyzed, you can lose a limb, you can suffer serious injuries, worse yet, you can die. That is what we are dealing with. So, we may have to relook.”
The government has already taken steps to recover monies from drivers who are responsible for damage to public properties as a result of road accidents.
