ABI calls for panel of independent doctors to assess whiplash claims and wants capped whiplash claims
The ABI today put forward a four-point action plan on whiplash ahead of tomorrow’s summit talks with Justice Secretary Ken Clarke.
The ABI wants:
- A system where whiplash claimants receive no compensation for alleged pain and suffering (general damages) unless there is objective medical evidence of injury.
- Capping or reducing the level of damages for whiplash claims.
- Having a panel of independent doctors to assess whiplash claims, rather than the claimants GP.
- Greater use of bio-mechanical evidence that might enable the introduction of a speed threshold under which there would be presumption that whiplash has not occurred.
ABI head of motor and liability James Dalton said: “If whiplash was an Olympic sport, the UK would be gold medallists. The fact that whiplash is virtually impossible to disprove means that for too many it has become the fraud of choice, often aided and abetted by ambulance-chasing lawyers and claims management firms.”
The ABI said that despite a fall in the number of car crashes, whiplash claims have risen by a third in the last three years. Every year 570,000 people claim for whiplash injuries – enough to fill the London Olympic Stadium seven times over. Last year these claims cost insurers over £2 billion, adding an extra £90 a year to the average annual motor premium of £440.
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