Injuries drain insurers

INSURANCE COMPANIES in Barbados are being drained of their lifeblood with a rash of million-dollar settlements arising from injuries suffered in traffic accidents.

And it is occurring in a year when the road fatality figure is at its lowest for many years, just nine so far for 2016. This has prompted industry executives to point out that while fatalities are costly, injuries were driving them to the poorhouse.

The president of the General Insurance Association of Barbados, Davis Browne, acknowledged that “the liability situation arising from injuries from traffic accident” was particularly challenging for the industry.

One company executive pointed to a case recently in which the driver of a car involved in a fatal accident was fined less than $5 000 by the court and allowed to keep his licence after he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of dangerous driving.

Please read the full story in today’s Sunday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.