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Concerned about the high rate of fatalities on major expressways, general insurance companies are planning to launch a pilot project to monitor these accidents and provide instant medical support to the victims.
The need for such a pilot stems from the fact that road accidents claim one life every 3.7 minutes in India.
The first project will on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada expressway, after approvals from the Andhra Pradesh Government. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and general insurance companies have set aside Rs 9 crore for mapping the number of accidents in the region.
The pilot will be carried out in collaboration with GMR Infrastructure and ‘108’ ambulance services for a period of two years. “There will be a call centre which will provide ambulances to take the victims to the nearest hospitals. In the first 48 hours, expenses for whatever emergency treatment that the victims will require will be borne by us,” said R. Chandrashekaran, Secretary General, General Insurance Council. A senior IRDA official said, “The whole idea (behind the pilot) is to provide quick medical treatment to prevent deaths. Crash victims have a better chance of survival, if they receive quick medical treatment immediately after the accident occurs.”
ICICI Lombard, as a standalone entity, has collaborated with the Delhi and Rajasthan Governments for a pilot project on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway.
“At present, about 10 ambulances are in service over a 20-km stretch on the expressway. In case of any accident, an ambulance can get to the spot within a few minutes and transport the victims to the nearest hospital,” said Amitabh Jain, Head - Motor Underwriting, ICICI Lombard.
Road fatalities
On the Mumbai-Pune expressway alone, 22 people were killed in 15 fatal accidents in the first three months of this year, a stretch which has claimed close to 1,000 lives since 2006, according to data from the Road Transport Authority.
Overall, more than 77.5 per cent of the accidents were caused by drivers who lost control of their vehicles. Motor insurance in India has two components — one covering third-party damage in terms of property or life, and the other covering one’s own damage.
The third-party coverage is mandatory for both commercial and personal vehicles. The third-party motor insurance segment is a bleeding portfolio for general insurance companies with claim ratios in excess of 120 per cent.
According to industry estimates, the average third-party motor insurance claim is Rs 5 lakh and even crosses Rs 1 crore in several cases.
Currently, there is no cap on the amount that a road accident victim can claim. However, as third-party insurance is mandatory by law, the premium paid by vehicle owners is determined by the insurance regulator and not by general insurance companies.
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