This rule, which will be introduced in a month, applies to all vehicles plying on the street, including motorcycles, according to Shekhar Kumar Aryal, acting director of the Insurance Board (IB).[break]
This means traffic police, who regularly checks driving license and vehicle registration certificate (commonly known as blue book), can stop motorists any time and ask for the document that verifies insurance coverage of the vehicle. This also means those who have not bought motor policy should get one as inability to show this document may land them in a hot soup.
“We will soon talk with the traffic police and ask their help in this regard,” Aryal said, adding that the new arrangement will better enforce third-party insurance policy introduced two years ago. In September 2009, the Insurance Board had introduced a new rule making it mandatory for all vehicle owners to purchase third-party insurance policies.
Because of this law, compensation for the family of a person killed in road accidents has now gone up by 10 folds to Rs 500,000, while those injured can legally demand up to Rs 200,000 to cover the medical expenses.
But two years down the line, many vehicle owners have stopped renewing their insurance policies. This has raised fears that road accidents may once again snowball into feuds or general strikes as in the past, due to lack of compensation amount.
“We believe the new measure (of deploying traffic police to check third-party insurance cover) will oblige vehicle owners to insure their vehicles. This will ultimately deter family members of road accident victims from staging protests,” Aryal told Republica.
Earlier, IB was mulling over introducing a card to better enforce third-party insurance policy. But after the process kept lingering due to different opinions expressed by insurance companies, the IB decided to make it mandatory for motorists to carry the policy itself.
“In this regard, we have already asked all non-life insurance companies to compulsorily give away policy papers upon purchase of the motor policies,” Aryal said, a deadline of Feb 27 has been fixed for companies to comply with this measure.
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