Who is going to compensate victims of road accidents by uninsured drivers? (part one)
By Daniel Machar Dhieu, Juba, South Sudan
Road Accidents are becoming part depopulation and enemy of our daily lives these days. Since the January 2014 throughout the year there is high number of people reported (who) lost their lives on our roads and people continue to die in road accidents.
And yet the more our road infrastructure is being improved, the more accidents and casualties we have by then and now. The question remained; Is there a solution to prevent road accidents? What about compensation of victims of accident by uninsured drivers? Who is going to compensate victims of road accidents by uninsured drivers?
In South Sudan, road accidents and their mounting human and material costs are subjects that we have found to be very alarming in some areas such as Juba town, Bor, Yei, Bahr-El-Ghazal region and more especially Nimule Highway. The attention of the authorities concerned have been drawn many times but we are yet to see anything substantial being done about these problems which are now becoming a national issue.
Sooner or later the authorities need to take remedial actions and put all their efforts into constructive and positive decisions to combat road accidents by the elimination of certain vehicles on our roads. I would be thankful to South Sudan authority if they government would form a committee to evaluate activities done by some of transporting agencies and importantly put some measures on table.
Especially, more debate on Bakulu and baby coach companies should be the first priority to discuss. The committee should also more investigation on these companies at-least to avail their vision, mission and mandate of their companies to the committee. For example, Bakulu coach has involved into three terrible accidence killing over hundreds of people within this year.
Time and again, we have noticed the constant increasing vehicle population in South Sudan and we don’t have much road safety protection. Road safety measure is going to be tremendously affected because vehicle imports are continuing at a steady, regardless of whether we have the physical and human resources and capacity to deal with this unnerving attribute of modernization.
Clearly, vehicle imports need to be guided by a rational policy based on ground realities and national priorities. Let us not run away with the illusion that this steady influx of vehicles puts us on the fast highway to progress.
All this would necessitate a stronger and more effective police presence on our highways and we are quite aware that our police force is not effective in road safety measures. It is for these reasons that a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation of our traffic problem is needed.
The volume of vehicles in our young nation is creating worry and constant road congestion not only at peak hours but also throughout the whole day at a daily level due to the shortage of highways we have to accommodate the amount of vehicles. So our government needs to take actions and measures to put a stop on the importation of vehicles if there is nothing put in place to guide this problem.
It is high time also for the government to get rid of some old types of vehicles which are not roadworthy at all. Moreover, strict rules and regulations should be laid down regarding the conditions under construction and use of some vehicles from some countries which do not conform with our road safety and the physical road structure of our country.
Last but not least, it is vital that the Minister of Transport and the representative body of insurance companies come to an agreement to establish a special body such as “Motor Insurers’ Bureau” just like in other developed countries. The Bureau should be given the task of paying compensation to third party victims of any road accident in circumstances where insurance claims could not legally be made because the vehicles involved were not insured or not effectively insured.
It is important that an injured party be able to establish negligence against the driver of a vehicle so that the said injured party be awarded compensation from the Bureau. The Bureau should act upon the decision of a court of law. Next is part two
Th writer is the student at South Sudan Christian University in Juba, Gudele. You can contact me on machardieu@gmail.com or 095640860
About Post Author
