Tema, Sept. 2, GNA – Mrs Cynthia Kwarteng Tufuor, Tema Area Manager, SIC Insurance PLC, has revealed that the increasing road crashes puts an enormous burden on insurance companies who pay huge compensations to either victims or their dependents.
She explained that even though insurance companies take premium for providing cover for vehicles in case of legitimate liabilities – motor accidents that may arise in the use of the said vehicle, the increasing road fatalities were putting a toll on the finances of insurance companies.
The SIC Area Manager said the increasing road crashes were not only a health challenge, but had significant economic cost as insurers were paying huge amounts of monies in claims resulting from such accidents and the overall impact on families, “life cannot be compensated for”.
Mrs Tufuor, who also has an oversight responsibility over parts of Volta and Eastern Regions, stated at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office Road Safety Campaign platform, which involves the Tema Regional Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.
The GNA-Tema and MTTD Road Safety Project also seek to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitise drivers especially of the tenets of road safety regulations.
Mrs Tufuor, commended the GNA-Tema Road Safety Campaign, explaining that already road crashes were a burden on insurance companies, families, and the state as a whole, therefore any activity or activities to reduce carnage on the roads was worthy.
She said improvement in road safety was beneficial to the public and the insurance industry as insurance coverage ensured that health and property cost for victims of road crashes were protected, adding that reducing the number or severity of crashes was generally beneficial for all while reducing the volumes of claims and compensations paid by insurance firms.
She said SIC Insurance PLC was taking a leadership role to reduce the cause of road safety and therefore joining GNA-Tema Regional Office for the Road Safety Campaign would be healthy for the country.
Mrs Tufuor said the company has a transparent claims management procedure for persons who intended to make such claims.
Miss Cynthia Twumasi, Deputy Area Manager, SIC Insurance PLC, demystified the notion that some insurance companies unfairly ripped off their clients, stating that most of these issues were based on wrong notion and misunderstanding of the type of insurance policy cover provided.
She said it was important for potential clients to understand clearly, the terms and conditions of the insurance cover they purchased, so they would be compensated appropriately based on the cover.
She said SIC Insurance PLC pays its claims in a timeous manner, explaining that insurance companies were regulated by the National Insurance Commission who supervise, regulate and control the business of insurance in the country.
She therefore advised persons whose legitimate claims were repudiated by any insurance company to seek appropriate redress through the Commission.
On the need for insurance companies to join the GNA-Tema Road Safety Campaign, Miss Twumasi explained that, even though it might seem the incentives for insurers to prevent road crashes primarily comes from their liability to pay for claims relating to road-crashes, the societal benefits were greater since many lives would be saved.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema Regional Manager, noted that the GNA-Tema Regional Office was mobilizing key personalities through the road safety campaign as channels to educate the people to reduce the soaring number of road fatalities in Tema and the country as a whole.
He said: “road accident data is beginning to assume an alarming point, we must all in our small ways begin to advocate for road safety, we must go and come back home safely”.
