Underestimation of Road Traffic Crash Cost in Developing Countries - A Study from India

Road traffic crashes are one of the major causes of death, injuries and disabilities in all over the world and the after effects are very severe in developing countries like India. It adversely affects the national economy and worsens the social status as well. All road crash cases in India are tried at the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), constituted under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. This study examines the sufficiency of the amount of compensation awarded to the victims of road traffic crashes by the MACT. It takes long time after the crash incidence to finalise the verdict and award the compensation as nobody seem to understand the plight of the persons injured in a road crash or the family of the person who may have died in a crash. In all verdicts, the final compensation awarded comes only to about 50% of actual expenditure/claim of the victim or his family. This is mainly because of insufficient proof of income/job or concerned doctors may not be available to record their statements. Many low income families in India get destroyed economically in the process of treating the accident victims and in future education and career opportunities of family members. This scenario necessitates immediate revisions/udating of the rules and procedure for valuing crash cases.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE90 Standing Committee on Transportation in the Developing Countries. Alternate title: Underestimation of Road Traffic Crash Cost in Developing Countries: Study from India.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • B, Sivakumar
    • Krishnamurthy, K
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2016

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 11p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01588004
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 16-2626
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Jan 27 2016 5:13PM