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Car insurance may become mandatory

Cape Town - Government is considering making third-party insurance compulsory for all drivers using public roads, said Minister of Transport S'bu Ndebele on Thursday.

Ndebele's statement follows on the back of figures released by the Democratic Alliance, which showed about 65% of the 8.5 million vehicles on South Africa's roads are not insured. This, argued the DA, puts the burden of compensation for accidents on insured drivers and insurance companies.

In reply to a question in parliament, Ndebele said the strategy of making third-party insurance mandatory was on the cards. However, it would require careful consideration of several factors, including the financial status of motor vehicle owners and the present fuel levy system.

Ndebele also said even though third-party insurance is not mandatory at the moment, accident victims may pursue compensation through the courts.

Ndebele also confirmed that the demerit point system for traffic offenses (Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences, or Aarto) will have been rolled out fully to all municipalities by December, despite the fact that pilot projects have highlighted some system glitches.

"The allocation of demerit points to infringers will be introduced on a national basis from April 1 2011. To date the pilot project in both the municipalities of Tshwane and Johannesburg has revealed a number of aspects that needed to be addressed. These relate mainly to legislative, operational and systems aspects," said Ndebele.

"Systems performance issues relate to the electronic uploading of infringement information, and the online, real-time updating of transactions onto the National Contraventions Register," said Ndebele.

 
   - Fin24.com 
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