Guidelines needed for whiplash claims
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has claimed that the UK has become the whiplash capital of Europe as claims have continued to soar.
The ABI estimates that one in every 140 people is claiming to suffer from a whiplash injury. The total amount of whiplash claims equates to 75 per cent of all personal injury claims.
The 1,200 claims made every day, with the cost to the NHS estimated at £8million a year, makes the whiplash claims six times more common than claims for workplace related injuries. The cost to insurers each year is almost £2 billion and the ABI is requesting action to help cut down this figure.
The Association of British Insurers recently attended a Whiplash Conference in Leeds at which the assistant director of motor and liability James Dalton said “
“Despite the statistics I doubt that that the UK has some of the weakest necks in Europe.” He went on to say “Often difficult to diagnose, easy to fake and exaggerate whiplash is a fraudsters dream.”
Mr Dalton would like to set up an action plan that would produce a working partnership with doctors, lawyers and insurers; he said this would “ensure better prevention and treatment of whiplash, and crackdown on fraudulent claims”. He said this could be achieved by a set of guidelines that included raising driver’s awareness on the need to keep a safe braking distance from a vehicle in front and by developing authoritative medical guidance on how to accurately diagnose and treat genuine whiplash.
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