In an alarming revelation, the data compiled by General Insurance Council (GIC), which represents the country’s general insurers, stated that nearly 60 per cent of the vehicles running in India, mostly motorcycles and scooters, are uninsured.
GIC secretary R Chandrasekaran said on Monday that in 2015-16, India had around 19 crore registered vehicles, of which only 8.26 crore were insured.
The situation was similar in 2012-13, when out of the total 15 crore vehicles including two-wheelers, cars and heavy vehicles, only 6.02 crore were found to be insured.
The figures are quite alarming as Indian roads are infamous for their high accident rate, with 2015 along recording over 5 lakh road crashes.
Two-wheelers were involved in 29 per cent of the accidents in 2015, cars and jeeps in 23 per cent, and buses in 8.3 per cent.
In October 2016, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal asked the Centre, Delhi Government and the police to devise a mechanism to ensure that uninsured vehicles do not ply on roads, observing that it becomes difficult for accident victims to get compensation after accidents involving offending vehicles.
The tribunal said mere prosecution of owners of offending vehicles for driving them without insurance under Motor Vehicles Act, was “insufficient to alleviate the suffering of victims” and the responsibility laid on the State to ensure that uninsured vehicles are not permitted to be plied.
