<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Why police aren't involved in motor claims
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the article, 'Motor insurers out to stop claims from piling up' (April20), and Mr Anwar Hussien's letter, 'Motor accidents: Police should probe' (April 23), and would like to clarify on several issues.
The Non-Injury Accident Report Scheme was introduced by the Traffic Police and the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) on May 1, 1999 to provide for faster and more efficient motor accident claims. Under this scheme, Traffic Police do not investigate non-injury cases, except for the following categories of accidents: non-injury cases involving a government vehicle or damage to government property; non- injury cases involving a foreign vehicle; non-injury cases involving a pedestrian or cyclist; and hit-and-run cases.
In such cases, relevant information required by motorists or their insurers for their claims would be made available by the GIA. Motorists thus no longer need to come to the police to lodge a traffic accident report before going to their insurer.
In addition, under the GIA's Motor Claims Framework, motorists are to report all motor accidents to their insurer within 24 hours of the accident. The aim is to give the insurer the opportunity to conduct a survey of the damaged vehicle and estimate the cost of repairs. The GIA also encourages motorists to take photographs of the damaged vehicles at the accident site. These are important steps in minimising the possibility of inflated claims.
The suggestion for police to handle all traffic accident reports is therefore a regressive one. In addition, any police investigation is geared towards establishing the culpability of the offenders and not the size of the civil claim, which is best left to insurance companies and their surveyors.
We would like to assure all that the current procedure does not preclude motorists or their insurers who have evidence of any fraud or cheating from lodging a police report at any neighbourhood police centre or police post. These are criminal offences that will be thoroughly investigated by the police.
Similarly, for other traffic violations such as driving without valid insurance coverage as cited in Mr Anwar's letter, motorists can lodge a police report for an investigation into the traffic offence. On that, Traffic Police have separately contacted Mr Anwar with regard to his case. DSP Paul Tay
Assistant Director, Media Relations
Singapore Police Force
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the article, 'Motor insurers out to stop claims from piling up' (April20), and Mr Anwar Hussien's letter, 'Motor accidents: Police should probe' (April 23), and would like to clarify on several issues.
The Non-Injury Accident Report Scheme was introduced by the Traffic Police and the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) on May 1, 1999 to provide for faster and more efficient motor accident claims. Under this scheme, Traffic Police do not investigate non-injury cases, except for the following categories of accidents: non-injury cases involving a government vehicle or damage to government property; non- injury cases involving a foreign vehicle; non-injury cases involving a pedestrian or cyclist; and hit-and-run cases.
In such cases, relevant information required by motorists or their insurers for their claims would be made available by the GIA. Motorists thus no longer need to come to the police to lodge a traffic accident report before going to their insurer.
In addition, under the GIA's Motor Claims Framework, motorists are to report all motor accidents to their insurer within 24 hours of the accident. The aim is to give the insurer the opportunity to conduct a survey of the damaged vehicle and estimate the cost of repairs. The GIA also encourages motorists to take photographs of the damaged vehicles at the accident site. These are important steps in minimising the possibility of inflated claims.
The suggestion for police to handle all traffic accident reports is therefore a regressive one. In addition, any police investigation is geared towards establishing the culpability of the offenders and not the size of the civil claim, which is best left to insurance companies and their surveyors.
We would like to assure all that the current procedure does not preclude motorists or their insurers who have evidence of any fraud or cheating from lodging a police report at any neighbourhood police centre or police post. These are criminal offences that will be thoroughly investigated by the police.
Similarly, for other traffic violations such as driving without valid insurance coverage as cited in Mr Anwar's letter, motorists can lodge a police report for an investigation into the traffic offence. On that, Traffic Police have separately contacted Mr Anwar with regard to his case. DSP Paul Tay
Assistant Director, Media Relations
Singapore Police Force
