Injured in road accidents caused by Ukrainian drivers abroad in 5 months of 2024 were paid EUR20.8 mln, which is 13% more than in 5 months of 2024. 2024 EUR20.8 mln was paid out, which is 13% more than in the same period a year earlier, according to the MTSBU Facebook page.
According to the report, the number of such cases increased by 8.5% – up to 6.401 thousand. The average amount of payment varies, as accrual is made in accordance with local legislation, and insurance indemnity limits in European countries reach one million euros and in some cases may be unlimited.
For example, if a road accident occurred in Poland, the limits of compensation are: for life and health – EUR 5.21 mln, for property – EUR 1.05 mln.
MTSBU is the only association of insurers that provide compulsory civil liability insurance of owners of land vehicles for damage caused to third parties.
“Green Card” is a system of insurance coverage for victims of road traffic accidents regardless of their country of residence and country of vehicle registration. “Green Card” covers the territory of 45 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to the decision adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of the Bureau of the International Motor Insurance System “Green Card” in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine is a full member of this system since January 1, 2005.
The number of road accidents caused by children has increased 1.4 times
Almost 6.5 thousand road accidents with victims were recorded in Ukraine in 4 months of 2024, according to the Patrol Police Department (PPD). This is 6% more than in the same period in 2023. 813 people died in these accidents. There has also been a significant increase in the number of road accidents involving children – 1.4 times this year. Most of these accidents occurred in the Lviv region.
6475 road accidents with victims were recorded in Ukraine in the first four months of 2024. This is 6% more than last year.
The number of people killed in such accidents this year reached 813, and 8155 were injured.
For the second year in a row, the top three anti-leaders in terms of the number of accidents with victims are led by Dnipropetrovska oblast, where 637 such incidents occurred, 10% of the total number in the country. The number of accidents here increased by 14.5% compared to the same period last year.
Lviv region ranks second with 586 accidents with victims (9%), and Kyiv closes the top three anti-leaders with 534 cases (8%).
The largest increase in road accidents with victims over the year was recorded in Kherson (+26%), Mykolaiv (+23%) and Rivne (+23%) regions.
Most people – 70% of the total number – died in road accidents due to speeding (430) and maneuvering violations (136).
It is worth noting that the number of road accidents involving children is increasing year by year. For example, 956 such accidents occurred in the first four months of 2024, almost a quarter more than in the same period last year. The highest number of such accidents was recorded in Lviv region – 115 cases.
The number of accidents involving children has increased 1.4 times this year compared to last year and 3 times compared to 2021. The largest number of such cases occurred in Lviv (21), Rivne (14), Ivano-Frankivsk (13), and Volyn (12).
Almost 3,000 accidents with victims were recorded in two months of 2024, according to the Patrol Police Department. This is 6% less than in January-February 2021. At the same time, the number of accidents caused by children continues to grow: this year, there are already twice as many such accidents as in the same period in 2021. A quarter of accidents with victims occurred during peak hours: from 5 to 7 pm.
2829 road accidents occurred in Ukraine in the first two months of 2024. This is 6% less than in the same period before the full-scale crackdown. The number of people killed in road accidents also decreased by 13% compared to the same period in 2021.
Almost half of accidents in Ukraine are caused by exceeding the safe speed limit: 42%. Violation of maneuvering rules (18%) and violation of pedestrian crossing rules (9%) are also among the top causes of accidents.
A separate item in the police reports is information about accidents caused by children – their number is steadily increasing. Thus, 33 such accidents have already occurred in 2 months of 2024. This is twice as many as in the corresponding period of 2021 – 14 accidents.
Dnipro region remains the leader in the number of accidents – 290 accidents. The top three anti-leaders also include Lviv region – 247 accidents with victims and Kyiv – 241 accidents.
25% of all road accidents in the country occur during peak hours in the evening – from 5 to 7 pm.
More than 19 thousand road accidents with injuries and deaths were recorded in Ukraine in ten months of 2023. The most common cause of road accidents is exceeding the safe speed limit. The number of accidents involving children has also increased significantly. Dnipropetrovska, Lvivska, and Kyivska oblasts are among the worst performers in terms of road accidents.
19,743 road accidents with fatalities and/or injuries occurred in Ukraine in 10 months of 2023. 2,492 people died as a result of these accidents, and another 24,774 were injured.
This is reported by Opendatabot, citing data from the Patrol Police Department.
The largest number of accidents with injuries and deaths was recorded in:
– Dnipropetrovska oblast – 1775
– Lviv region – 1697
– Kyiv region – 1631 accidents.
The most significant increase in road accidents with injuries and/or deaths was in Volyn – +39%. This is almost 1.4 times more than in the same period in 2021. The number of accidents also increased significantly in Chernivtsi (+27%) and Kirovohrad (+26%) regions. In contrast, accidents in Ternopil and Kharkiv regions decreased by 11% and 10%, respectively.
Top causes of road accidents in 2023
In the vast majority of cases – 38.5% – accidents occur due to speeding. The second most common cause of accidents in Ukraine is violation of maneuvering rules (22.5%). ⅔ of deaths in road accidents occur for these reasons.
In 2023, the number of accidents involving children increased significantly – by 10% compared to the same period in 2021.
At the same time, the number of accidents that, according to the Patrol Police, were caused by children increased by 1.5 times. This year, twice as many children have already died in such accidents and 2.3 times as many have been injured as in the same period in 2021.
Lviv region remains the anti-leader with 83 such accidents, while Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions show the highest growth – by 3.8 and 3 times, respectively.
In case of a traffic accident abroad, if a Ukrainian driver is injured, he should contact the insurance company of the accident culprit. This can be done either in the office of the company or by post or electronically, the website of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine says.
Information on how to submit information on the accident and a package of documents necessary for the settlement is mostly placed on the websites of the respective insurers.
Payment of insurance compensation is made under terms determined by the legislation on compulsory third party liability insurance for car owners of the country where the accident took place.
If the accident initiator has no liability insurance policy (it happens abroad as well), you may apply to the Green Card Bureau of the country, in which the accident initiator’s vehicle is registered, to get advice on further actions of the injured party. The list of national bureaus is available on the MLSAU website.
The MLSAU points out that it has no authority to settle accidents involving vehicles registered in Ukraine abroad.
MTSBU advises that in case of traffic accidents abroad you should call the police and other services, if necessary, and not leave the scene of the accident until they arrive. If as a result of the accident there were no traumatized or dead people and/or considerable damage to the vehicles of the accident participants, it is possible to draw up an agreed statement about the accident – “Europrotocol”.
In most member countries of the Green Card system the euro-protocol form is unified, i.e. its structure, names of fields and fields are the same. Every insured can obtain a Ukrainian blank of Europrotocol at conclusion of Green Card contract with Ukrainian insurer. A “euro-protocol” form and instructions on its filling in are also available at the MTSBU website. The euro-protocol should be filled in in the language of the participant of the road traffic accident. In no case sign a document if you don’t understand its content. If you can’t avoid it, state in Ukrainian that you don’t understand the content of the document and the language in which it is composed.
After taking measures for the safety of all road users, if technically possible, you need to: take pictures of the place of the accident, damage to all vehicles or other property, fixing the coordinates of the accident place (geolocation data), or make a video recording of the accident place.
Record data of other participants of the road traffic accident: name of the driver, driving license data, contact phone number, name of the insurance company and policy number; record information about witnesses and their contact information.
Take photos, if technically possible, of all documents executed at the place of the accident (police certificate, euro-protocol, etc.). If, in your opinion, you are the person who caused the accident, provide the other party with information about your Green Card international insurance contract. You can get information about the Green Card contract status remotely on the MTSBU website – by the contract number or by the state number of the vehicle.
If, in your opinion, you have suffered an accident, insist that the person at fault provide you with a copy of your insurance contract (or information about it) and notify your insurer of the accident from the scene of the accident. If it is obvious from the situation that you are the injured party – do not provide anyone but the police with a copy of your international Green Card insurance contract to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
Irrespective of who you think caused the accident, inform the insurance company you concluded a Green Card contract with about the accident as soon as possible by any communication means agreed with the insurer.
MTSBU draws the attention of Ukrainian car owners to the mandatory availability of the international insurance certificate “Green Card” in case of operation of the vehicle abroad in the territory of the member countries of the “Green Card” system, which, besides European countries, also include Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Iran.
The number of road accidents involving two-wheeled transport since the start of the motor season in Kyiv has jumped 30% compared to last year, volunteer of the Motohelp public organization Oleksandra Hlotova said at a press conference held at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday.
“The number of accidents from the opening of the motorcycle season has increased by 30%. From the beginning of the season, there have been several fatalities and more serious injuries compared to last year. We do not yet know the reason,” she said.
Head of the reception and diagnostic department of the Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital Yevhen Lapshyn said the number of injured in accidents during the summer increases because of motorcycle mishaps.
“In summer, the number of injured increases due to motorcyclists, cyclists and road accident victims, because everyone is leaving the city,” he said.
Deputy Director General of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) Liudmyla Beloshytska said the number of insurance claim fee payments through the bureau increases in winter due to the use of summer tires.
She said if the person responsible for the accident does not have insurance, the MTIBU issues the payment. The maximum amount of payments is UAH 200,000. Payments are made either on confirmation of costs, or in the minimum amount (12-16 minimum wages).
Beloshytska said the number of victims is 10 times higher than the number of persons who received health payments.
According to Managing Partner of the DTP Expert law firm Alexander Keer, collecting information at the scene of the accident is important for receiving insurance payments.
“An important factor is the collection of primary information at the scene of the accident. Our company’s practice shows that the quality of the collection of materials does not always meet the requirements of legislation necessary to identify who is at fault. The main reason for the poor quality of evidence collected is the absence of qualified professionals who can arrive at the scene, that is, lawyers. People usually turn to lawyers at the stage when they fail to receive payment, received an incomplete payment or the court fails to establish who the guilty party is. Mostly people appeal after the term for establishing responsibility (three months for administrative offenses) expires. If a police officer has evaluated the situation incorrectly, reviewing the case could take up to a year,” he said.
According to Keer, the problem is also that people do not know their rights. A person involved in an accident has the right to familiarize himself with materials at the scene and take a picture of the scheme drawn up by law enforcement officers, as well as to make comments and additions to them.
The road service can also be blamed for causing an accident, the expert said.
“A police officer can draw up a protocol not only in relation to the participants in the accident, but also the road holder for the poor condition that led to the accident. We recently had a case last month when the court of appeals decided to acquit the parties and sent materials to the police to draw up a protocol in respect of the road service. Moreover, there is another glaring case: on the Poltava highway, when changing from one lane to another, there is a concrete block painted in red and white stripes. The sign does not comply with traffic rules and because of this there are a lot of accidents. One of these cases was fatal. We filed a lawsuit against the motorway service, because the incorrectly designated order of crossing from one lane to another led to fatal consequences. We are simultaneously conducting two cases, with one involving the prosecution of the driver. As lawyers, we argue that the driver is not guilty, because he did not have the opportunity to avoid the concrete block,” he said.