Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005
Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Karnataka
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Bangalore
By Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, FEB. 1. When people in all walks of life are getting organised, why not accident victims? They have to deal with the police, hospitals and insurance companies besides accident claims authorities. B.E. Sunder Shetty of Sultanpet, who went through such difficulties, says if accident victims, at least in Bangalore, organise themselves and register an association, they can benefit in several ways. They can retain senior advocates jointly and reduce legal expenses and find beds in hospitals at a concession. "Soon after an accident is reported, the association can send trained staff to prepare relevant documents in coordination with the traffic police and these can later be produced in courts. Having recorded evidence helps the courts," Mr. Shetty says. More important, such an association can lobby for insurance companies to publish information about the insurance premiums collected from vehicle owners, claims paid, lawyers' fees paid by insurance companies and a balance sheet. "Of course, the Right to Information Act enables a citizen access such information, but it may be a time-consuming process," he says. According to the Transport Department records, close to 21 lakh vehicles are registered in the city. The existing roads can manage less than half that number, traffic engineering experts say. The increasing accident rate seems to point to that. Each year about 1,000 people die on roads and a larger number are injured. "Insurance companies rather pay their lawyers, argue accident cases before the cases to invariably make out that the victims were at fault, and too much bargaining goes on regarding compensation to be paid," Mr. Shetty says. The insurance companies deny this vehemently and explain they only make sure that genuine victims get compensated and not others. Accident victims are not out to make money and only want to be compensated for their medical treatment, and insurance companies can deal with it. Mr. Shetty said insurance companies whose income is going up in proportion to the growing number of vehicles on the road can even set up a super speciality hospital with around 100 beds in the city. Insurance companies can honour medical reports given by doctors at a hospital. There will be no need for doctors to appear in court later. If the best treatment is provided and an accident victim can return to normal work faster, the cost of compensation can come down drastically.
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