Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Wednesday urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to hyperlink insurance coverage premiums of autos to the variety of site visitors violations recorded in opposition to them, in a bid to boost the street security and site visitors self-discipline.
In a letter, he proposed the implementation of a layered insurance coverage premium system that displays the driving behaviour of drivers primarily based on the frequency and severity of site visitors violations.
Highlighting a co-relation between frequent site visitors offenders and accidents threat, LG Saxena instructed that the tiered insurance coverage premium system be launched in India. He mentioned {that a} car which has been often fined for offences reminiscent of over-speeding, purple mild leaping, and harmful driving ought to pay increased insurance coverage premium.
This monetary deterrent would promote a greater and extra accountable driving behaviour, he mentioned, including how the same system has been efficiently applied within the US and European nations, the place insurance coverage premiums enhance considerably primarily based on site visitors violations.
He additionally talked about latest information citing Delhi Visitors Police’s report, World Financial institution, and the Ministry of Street Transport and Freeway as he careworn that autos with greater than three site visitors challans in a given yr had been fund to have a “disproportionately excessive involvement in extreme accidents”.
“As per the Ministry of Street Transport and Freeway, India recorded over 4.37 lakh street accidents in 2022, leading to roughly 1.55 lakh fatalities. Notably, over-speeding accounted for practically 70% of those accidents, whereas violations reminiscent of red-light leaping contributed considerably to deadly accidents. Evaluation of accident information by the World Financial institution signifies that autos with a number of site visitors violations have a 40% increased threat of being concerned in deadly crashes in comparison with these with a clear driving document. Delhi’s personal accident statistics corroborates these findings. Based on a 2023 report of the Delhi Visitors Police, 60% of deadly street accidents concerned autos that had beforehand been fined for site visitors violations, primarily over- dashing and red-light leaping,” the letter famous.
LG Saxena requested the Union Finance Minister to interact the Insurance coverage Regulatory and Growth Authority of India (IRDAI) to take immediate motion and set up a framework for index-linked insurance coverage premiums.
The letter additional mentioned that by implementing this market-driven coverage, India can take a big step in direction of creating safer roads, encourage accountable driving, saving lives, and making certain higher administration of insurance coverage claims.