News

Coris News - April 2009

This month we are focusing on Portugal.

Portugal's capital city is Lisbon, with a population of 2.6 million and a total population of 10.6 million. This westernmost country of mainland Europe joined the EU (the then EEC) in 1986.

For almost half of the 20th century Portugal was a dictatorship in which for decades Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
was the key figure. This period was brought to an end in 1974 in a bloodless coup, picturesquely known as the Revolution of the Carnations, which ushered in a new democracy. The current President is Anibal Cavaco Silva and the Primer Minister is Jose Socrates.

Minimum Levels of Insurance Cover are as follows:

Personal Injury: €1,200,000 per accident
Material Damage claims: €600,000 per accident

Portugal implemented the 5th Directive on 20/10/2007. The unilateral agreement and the internal regulations are
part of Portuguese Law.

Liability

Claims for compensation can arise from both liability based on negligence and from strict liability.

Limitation

The limitation period in Portugal is 3 years.

Legal Costs

Legal costs are not recoverable following the event.

Guarantee Fund

The Guarantee Fund compensates the third party victims in the following case:

The fund covers both material damage claims and
personal injury where the responsible motorist cannot be
identified, the vehicle was not insured or the insurance company has declared itself bankrupt.

General

The use of a hire car can be claimed however loss of use only when the vehicle is crucial to the Claimant's business activity.

Coris Group Annual Meeting

This year's Coris Group annual meeting will take place in Milan on 11-12 May 2009.

Department for Transport: UK Road Traffic Accident Statistics

The number of people killed in road accidents fell by 7 per cent from 3,172 in 2006 to 2,946 in 2007. 30,720 people were killed or seriously injured in 2007, 4 per cent fewer than in 2006. There were 247,780 road casualties in Great Britain in 2007, 4 per cent less than in 2006.

There were 182,115 road accidents involving personal injury in 2007, 4 per cent fewer than in 2006. Of these, 27,036 accidents involved death or serious injury, 3 percent fewer than in 2006 (27,872).

The number of deaths among car users in 2007 was 1,432, 11 per cent less than in the previous year. The number seriously injured fell by 9 per cent to 11,535. Total casualties among car users were 161,433, 6 per cent lower than 2006. Provisional traffic estimates indicate a 1 per cent fall in car and taxi traffic over the period. 

Child casualties fell by 7 per cent. The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2007 was 3,090 (down 6 per cent on 2006). Of those, 1,899 were pedestrians, 6 per cent down on 2006. 121 children died on the roads, 28 per cent fewer than in 2006, this is the lowest ever recorded figure.

There were 646 pedestrian deaths, 4 per cent less than in 2006. Killed or serious injured casualties fell by 2 per cent to 6,924. The all pedestrian casualty figure fell to 30,191 in 2007, 3 per cent lower than 2006.
The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 7 per cent from 146 in 2006 to 136 in 2007. The number of seriously injured rose by 6 per cent to 2,428. The total casualties among pedal cyclists remained at the same level as 2006.

There were 588 motorcycle user fatalities in 2007, 2 per cent lower than during 2006. The number of killed or seriously rose compared to 2006 (up 4 per cent from 6,484 in 2006 to 6,737 in 2007). The all motorcycle user casualties figure for 2007 of 23,459 is 1 per cent higher than in 2006.

In 2007, the number of people killed or seriously injured was 36 per cent below the 1994-98 average; the number of children killed or seriously injured was 55 per cent below the 1994-98 average; and provisional estimates show the slight casualty rate was 30 per cent below the 1994-98 average.

Outrage at ruling on helmets for cyclists

Judge says bare-headed cyclists may be to blame if they are injured in a collision. Britain's cyclists reacted in uproar to a High Court ruling that they can be blamed for their injuries if they don't wear a helmet - even if the accident itself was caused by someone else.
"There can be no doubt that the failure to wear a helmet may expose the cyclist to the risk of greater injury," Mr Justice Williams said, making the unprecedented ruling on an accident involving a motorbike and a cycle in Brightlingsea, Essex in June 2005.
"A cyclist is free to choose whether or not to wear one," he said in the legal ruling. But not doing so means "any injury sustained may be the cyclist's own fault and 'He has only himself to thank for the consequences'."
Source: The Independent 16.03.09

Police seizing more uninsured vehicles

Police are seizing more than 460 uninsured vehicles a day, figures released by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) reveal.

In 2008, police seized more than 170,000 uninsured vehicles, more than a two-fold increase on the 78,000 uninsured vehicles seized in 2006, the first full year of the scheme. New legislation introduced in mid 2005 giving police the powers to seize vehicles being driven uninsured, improved access to the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and the national roll-out of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) equipment are key factors thought to have contributed to the significant increase.

ACPO lead on ANPR and chief constable Hertfordshire constabulary, Frank Whiteley, said: "Driving without insurance is not a victimless crime. It is estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year.[1] Uninsured drivers are more likely to be involved in road traffic accidents, more likely to be non-compliant with other road traffic requirements and potentially involved in other criminal activity."

Ashton West, chief executive from the Motor Insurers' Bureau, said: "The cost to the economy and society in general of uninsured driving in the UK is unnecessarily high. The UK's highest levels of uninsured drivers are concentrated in the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, London Metropolitan and Merseyside. Our work with the police has been very successful and must continue alongside additional measures to make it harder for the uninsured driver to hide from prosecution.

"All law abiding motorists who are insured are paying nearly £30 each towards a total sum in excess of £500m. This is how much it costs to compensate people injured by uninsured drivers. The message is clear, uninsured drivers have no right to use their vehicles on our roads and when they do, they are being caught." Source:Insurance Times

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