The Road Accident Fund deals with compensation for people who have been involved in road accidents. This is soon to be changed to a no fault system.
The Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS), is a social benefit scheme that will provide a social security safety net, for those who are injured in road accidents.
The Road Accident Fund was set up to compensate victims of road accidents, who suffered an injury or loss caused by another. The RAF would make lump-sum payments, determined by your past and future medical costs, it also allows for damages and payments for pain and suffering, as well as covering funeral expenses.
The newly proposed RABS would replace this lump sum payout with regular, reviewable small payments.
On the Road Accident Fund site, in a recent press release about the bill, the following was stated:
“RABS is intended to replace the current fault-based system administered by the Road Accident Fund (RAF), which often results in extensive and costly litigation, prolonged claims finalisation and high administrative costs.
“Under RABS, fault will not be considered on the part of the claimant or other persons involved in the road accident. The focus will essentially be on how the claimant is immediately assisted.”
Basically, there will be no difference if you caused the accident or not – if you were involved in a road accident and meet the various criteria for injuries – you will qualify for assistance.
While this may seem unfair and the person who caused the accident should be held liable – I think the costs of proving who’s at fault, just ends up racking up huge legal fees, making the whole process an incredible waste of time and money.
I think it’s very much a case of the ‘lesser of two evils’. Instead of allocating resources to pay these claims out, as well as whatever legal fees and court time is required to prove who’s to blame – it’s simply easier and cheaper to forgo all of that and not care who is to blame for the accident.
Pretoria attorney Gert Nel, who is representing the Law Society of the Northern Provinces believes that, "The proposed RABS is a -˜no-fault’-based system in terms of which a road accident victim will be awarded a structured benefit, not aimed at full compensation. Benefits are drastically reduced to sustain a -˜no-fault’ system.”
The Department of Transport estimated that, "In 2014, the Road Accident Fund paid out R22.2 billion, with up to R1.5bn spent in a single month. Road trauma costs the South African economy R306bn annually, which is 8 percent of the country’s GDP.”
The Road Accident Fund deals with compensation for people who have been involved in road accidents. This is soon to be changed to a no fault system.
The Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS), is a social benefit scheme that will provide a social security safety net, for those who are injured in road accidents.
The Road Accident Fund was set up to compensate victims of road accidents, who suffered an injury or loss caused by another. The RAF would make lump-sum payments, determined by your past and future medical costs, it also allows for damages and payments for pain and suffering, as well as covering funeral expenses.
The newly proposed RABS would replace this lump sum payout with regular, reviewable small payments.
On the Road Accident Fund site, in a recent press release about the bill, the following was stated:
“RABS is intended to replace the current fault-based system administered by the Road Accident Fund (RAF), which often results in extensive and costly litigation, prolonged claims finalisation and high administrative costs.
“Under RABS, fault will not be considered on the part of the claimant or other persons involved in the road accident. The focus will essentially be on how the claimant is immediately assisted.”
Basically, there will be no difference if you caused the accident or not – if you were involved in a road accident and meet the various criteria for injuries – you will qualify for assistance.
While this may seem unfair and the person who caused the accident should be held liable – I think the costs of proving who’s at fault, just ends up racking up huge legal fees, making the whole process an incredible waste of time and money.
I think it’s very much a case of the ‘lesser of two evils’. Instead of allocating resources to pay these claims out, as well as whatever legal fees and court time is required to prove who’s to blame – it’s simply easier and cheaper to forgo all of that and not care who is to blame for the accident.
Pretoria attorney Gert Nel, who is representing the Law Society of the Northern Provinces believes that, "The proposed RABS is a -˜no-fault’-based system in terms of which a road accident victim will be awarded a structured benefit, not aimed at full compensation. Benefits are drastically reduced to sustain a -˜no-fault’ system.”
The Department of Transport estimated that, "In 2014, the Road Accident Fund paid out R22.2 billion, with up to R1.5bn spent in a single month. Road trauma costs the South African economy R306bn annually, which is 8 percent of the country’s GDP.”
