This morning one of our work cars was involved in an accident on the freeway ad the car above is he vehicle that went into the back of our vehicle. Just by looking at this vehicle you just know there is going to be no insurance and that is not anything unusual in South Africa. I doubt even the tow truck driver wants to tow this as the chances of being paid the towing fee would be highly unlikely as this car should be scrapped and is probably not even road worthy. This is selfish and unfair because if you cannot afford to drive on the road you have no rights to be on the road.
In most other normal countries by law you need to have some type of insurance. I know in the UK if you have o insurance and found on the road then your vehicle will be crushed with no questions asked. I feel strongly about all vehicles being insured because it is so unfair for everyone else that is insured when this happens. The end result is the 30% that are insured are paying high premiums because of the uninsured and guaranteed you will encounter this problem at some time.
Our vehicle did not receive huge damage, but as we know even the smallest of impacts involves thousands in repairs. Our driver never crashed into the vehicle in front of us so the blame always lies with the car hitting you from behind. Our insurance company will fix this and will have to now sue the driver at fault and why having third party insurance should be the bare minimum required by any vehicle on the road.
If stats are anything to go by 4 of the 6 cars involved in this accident will have no insurance as it is estimated that 70% of all vehicles on the road have no insurance at all. A scary statistic when you think about it and throw in how many drivers have paid for their licenses.
As you would expect driving standards are not exactly what you would find in most places and it does make you drive and think differently. Reading the road and traffic is far more important knowing others around you may actually have no clue about the rules of the road. Th give away is at a four way stop when it becomes a disorganized bun fight with cars jumping their turns. You can normally tell who has bought their lisence with he scary part these individuals can drive over seas and are legal to do so.
The negative side with this accident is not necessarily the costs paying the excess, but the time we are down with one vehicle less. Renting another vehicle will not be covered by insurance and will have to be squeezed into the budget. Accidents are going to happen and this is something you can never plan for. Our vehicle can still be driven for now with the only problem being the central locking no longer works and possibly the tailgate won't open and close.
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