L-G seeks to link insurance premium to traffic violations, writes to FM
New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has sent a proposal on a road safety plan to Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The L-G, through the proposal, has sought higher insurance premiums for vehicles with a history of traffic violations.
In the letter, Saxena underlined the critical importance of this proposal for enhancing road safety and promoting responsible driving behaviour.
A vehicle which has been frequently challenged for traffic offences such as over-speeding, red light jumping and dangerous driving should be obligated to pay a higher insurance premium, Saxena said.
In the letter, dated September 18, the L-G said that a financial deterrent will encourage better driving behaviour among repeated offenders as there is an obvious co-relation between repeat traffic offences and the risk of accidents.
“I would, therefore, suggest that a layered insurance premium system based on the frequency and severity of traffic violations as recorded in MoRTH’s VAHAN database may be introduced,” the letter stated.
“I would like to suggest for your consideration that insurance premiums should be index-linked with the number of traffic violations recorded against a vehicle, which would have a salutary impact on road safety and traffic discipline,” Saxena wrote.
Citing a 2023 report of the Delhi Traffic Police, Saxena said that 60 per cent of fatal road accidents involved vehicles that had previously been fined for traffic violations, primarily over-speeding and red-light jumping.
The vehicles with more than three traffic challans in a given year were found to have a disproportionately high involvement in severe accidents, he said.
The proposal comes in the wake of alarming statistics from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), which reported over 4,37,000 road accidents in 2022, resulting in approximately 1,55,000 fatalities. Saxena noted that over-speeding accounted for nearly 70 per cent of these accidents, while violations like red-light jumping also significantly contributed to deaths.
Analysis of accident data by the World Bank indicates that vehicles with multiple traffic violations have a 40 per cent higher risk of being involved in fatal crashes compared to those with a clean driving record, the L-G said.
Saxena has also urged the Union finance minister to engage the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to take immediate action to establish a framework for index-linked insurance premiums.
The Lieutenant Governor has underlined in his letter that implementing such a system would not only align insurance costs with the actual risk posed by individual drivers but will also reduce the financial burden on insurers resulting from frequent claims.
This financial deterrent-driven approach which is practised in the US and European countries will promote responsible driving behaviour, leading to a reduction in accidents, saving lives and ensuring more efficient management of insurance claims, he said.
“Such measures have been successfully implemented in other countries such as the United States, where insurance premiums increase significantly based on traffic violation and speeding tickets leading to an average premium increase of 20 to 30 per cent. This also followed in several European Nations,” the letter states.
