Under Common Law we all have a duty of care towards other people. If a breach of that duty causes an accident resulting in personal injury to another person of loss of or damage to the property of a third party then a claim for compensation damages may be brought.

Almost all motor accidents result from negligence of one party or the other although occasionally both parties may be partially responsible in which case any claim for damages brought by one party will be reduced in proportion to the degree of blame. This is known as Contributory Negligence.

Because of the number of road accidents and the potential for serious injury or loss, there is a legal requirement for drivers of road vehicles to carry insurance to cover compensation claims made against them caused by their negligence whilst using the vehicle. The insurance must cover claims from all other persons eg. drivers and passengers in third party vehicles, passengers in the drivers own vehicle, pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motor cyclists.

The object of this law is to ensure that adequate funds are available to compensate innocent victims since there will be many instances where the driver would not be able to satisfy the claim from their own assets.

There are nevertheless many accidents where the negligent driver is either uninsured or untraced and in such circumstances the innocent victim can bring a claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB). This body is funded by contributions from Motor Insurance Companies and is intended to ensure that victims are able to obtain compensation.

In the case of uninsured motorists, claims can be made against the MIB for personal injury and loss or damage to property but for untraced motorists only personal injury claims can be considered. Where the Bureau pays a claim for an identified but uninsured motorist it would have the right to attempt to recover it's outlay from the motorist personally.

Back to Resources