KUALA LUMPUR: The insurance industry pays out an estimated RM14.7 million daily as insurance claims for road crashes, said General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) chairman Antony Lee.
He said although this is a rather high amount, more worrying is the high number of road deaths in the country.
The payout included property damage, bodily injury and also vehicle theft.
He said the total motor insurance claims last year paid out by the industry amounted to RM5.38 billion while motor insurance premium collected was RM8.32 billion whilst in 2016 it was RM8.16 billion.
“Based on the statistics, PIAM has seen road deaths climbing slowly, in 2012 it was 6,917 deaths and by 2016 it was 7,152,“ he said in an exclusive interview.
“Every death caused the country about RM2 million to RM3 million in economic losses. The highest number of deaths involved young male motorcyclists, in 2012 it was 4,178 and in 2016 it stood at 4,485.
“Serious accidents on the road resulted in large claims involving death and injuries.”
Lee said pillion riders were the most at risk because they have nothing to hold on to and neither do they have a view of what is in front of them.
He said the number of high road accidents is compounded by the high risk taken by vehicle drivers and the “tidak apa” attitude of road users.
He cited the example of when a traffic light turns amber in most countries drivers get ready to stop but here in Malaysia most of them will attempt to beat the light.
He said in other countries such as in Australia, Europe and other more developed countries, drivers are afraid of losing their licence but here many drivers are not because they think they get away with breaking traffic laws.
“Malaysia is ranked the third highest for road accidents in Asean, and we are not far from second-ranked Vietnam. Thailand takes the number one spot.
“The road conditions in those two countries are worse than here but Malaysia is closing fast on Vietnam for the number of crashes,“ Lee said.
He said the carrot and stick approach was needed to help reduce the number of road accidents and deaths and PIAM aims to see a drop of 20% this year and 50% by 2020.
While praising Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s commitment to road safety, he said all stakeholders need to come together to discuss how to reduce road accidents.
Lee said if the enforcement authorities were to step us their actions, this may scare people enough for them to start behaving properly on the roads.
“By sharing information on those who break traffic laws, insurance companies will be allowed to understand the behaviour of motorists and thus cater their coverage to meet that behaviour.
“If the industry is fully liberalised, than those who constantly break the law may find themselves without coverage or may have to pay high premiums. All this will go a long way in helping reduce the number of accidents,“ he said.
