Macau, china, 12 Apr-The government’s top advisory body announced Manday the revision of a by-law on mandatory third party liability insurance for road vehicles, entailing increases in insurance premiums and minimum coverage.
Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng made the announcement in a press conference at Government House.
The changes will affect cars, motorcycles, scooters, vans, taxis, lorries, buses and other motor vehicles, The Macau Post Daily reported today.
Leong said that the changes, namely an increase in motorists’ minimum insurance coverage, were necessary to respond to Macau ‘s socio-economic development.
The minimum insurance coverage of scooters of up to 50 cc will be raised by 50 percent, from 500,000 patacas to 750,000 patacas per accident. The coverage of motorcycles of more than 50 cc, private motorcars and vans will be raised by 50 percent, from one million patacas to 1.5 million patacas per accident.
A statement by the council listed a number of insurance premium increases. For instance, the premium per year for a motorcycle will be raised by 37.5 percent, from 383 patacas to 527 patacas. The annual premium for a private motorcar will also be raised by 37.5 percent, from 858 patacas to 1,180 patacas.
According to Leong, the insurance premium and minimum coverage changes take into account that the by-law dates back to January 1997 and that the accumulated inflation rate since 1997 amounts to 21.35 percent.
Under the amended by-law, the maximum compensation covered by third party liability insurance for road vehicles will amount to 30 million patacas per year. However, for car and motorcycle races the maximum damages will stand at 100 million patacas. Previously, the by-law did not mention any maximum damages.
Leong said the amended by-law was scheduled to take effect on June 1.
At the end of February, Macau had 90,705 licensed cars, vans and other vehicles, and 106,619 motorcycles and scooters, according to official statistics. The police recorded 13,155 traffic accidents last year, which resulted in 10 fatalities.
(MacauNews)
