Mr Richard Abbey Jnr, presenting the Private Health Insurance Company of the Year award A Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Daniel Nii Kwartey Titus Glover, has observed that passengers of commercial vehicles that are involved in road accidents do not make claims for injuries or out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of those crashes.
That was in spite of the fact that the Motor Vehicles Act (1958) made it mandatory for any motor insurance policy to cover the financial liability of third parties who were harmed through accidents involving the insured, the deputy minister said in Accra.
“When people get injured in an accident and survive, they thank God and move on,” he said at the second Ghana Insurance Awards on July 26.
This, he said, needed to be stopped.
He said although the law existed, not every passenger was aware that he or she was entitled to some compensation should anything happen.
Consequently, he advised passengers to always make claims for expenses incurred as a result of accidents.
He also advised insurance companies to honour such claims to help cater for the passengers, as well as endear the image of the industry to the populace.
Ministry to act
To help reverse the situation, Mr Titus-Glover said the ministry would soon make it compulsory for all long-distance vehicle operators to take the names and addresses of all passengers on board vehicles at all times.
That, he said, would enable the ministry to push for all the claims entitled to the passengers should there be any accident.
He also noted that insurance companies in the country were doing little in terms of educating the public on third-party claims, and urged them to do more, as it would help give insurance a positive image.Motor insurance policyMr Titus-Glover’s advice comes at a time when road accidents are a major public safety issue.Data from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service indicates that 1,252 people lost their lives through road accidents in the first half of 2019.Out of this number, 540 were killed through accidents involving commercial vehicles, while 3,788 people sustained varying degrees of injuries.It, however, remains unknown how many out of these people made claims for compensations due them.Generally, motor insurance policies cover the financial liabilities of occupants in the event that the insured vehicle gets involved in a vehicular accident and harm is caused to any third party or property.Award winnersMeanwhile, 44 companies and individuals […]
