Researcher Shatha Khalil *
Translated by : mudhaffar al-kusairi
The Human Rights Commission in Iraq announced a significant increase in the number of road accidents due to lack of safety requirements in roads and in vehicles used by citizens and old roads pointing out that the number of traffic accidents amounted to 16587, while the number of deaths was 5152 and the number of injured was 18404. ).
The Commission pointed out that the largest percentage of the total number of accidents was the result of collisions with a number of (12421) collisions, followed by a run over accidents with a number of (3267) accidents, and the total incidents by road class in the main roads amounted to (4695) accident followed by sub roads with a number of (1779) Accident.
In contrast, there is an important decision unknown to most Iraqi citizens, the decision to compensate the dead and wounded traffic accidents, and in large amounts, and without payment of premiums.
On March 9, 2019, an Iraqi lawyer named Ali Habib highlighted that “traffic accidents and deaths and injuries resulting from them are many, but most people do not know the right they have of compensation at the National Insurance Company, and without paying premiums in advance “He said.
He stressed that this decision is valid and in place. Any deceased or injured person by one of the means of transport inside Iraq and exclusively the Iraqis will be compensated without payment of insurance premiums because premiums are paid to the insurance company at the rate of one Dinar for every liter of gasoline sold in Iraq.
He explained that “the insurance company pays for death according to the status of the deceased and the injured, which are good amounts and large in some cases, but most people do not know this right, and that any Iraqis are legally insured and premiums paid in advance.”
One of the conditions for obtaining compensation is that “the request for death shall not be for three years and the injured shall be two years”.
He called on the Directorate of Traffic and the National Insurance Company and local governments to “educate citizens on this subject and inform the citizen of his rights.”
It is noteworthy that the compulsory insurance law is one of the provisions of paragraph (7) of Revolution Command Council Resolution No. 815 of 20/6/1982.
Insurance companies in Iraq and undeclared rights:
It belongs to the Iraqi citizen in all Iraqi provinces, where specialists said that these compensation due to traffic accidents, are compensation for life during car accidents.
The National Insurance Company shall pay as follows:
First: In case of death:
1. A lump sum (1,000,000) Dinars shall be paid called the payment.
2. The sum of JD2, 000,000 is paid to each heir. This amount is different for the adult son and the married daughter where the amount of JD 750.00 is paid for them and the remainder is deducted because compensation consists of two parts , material and moral and the material compensation is deducted.
Second: In case of disability:
1. The sum of 14,000,000 dinars shall be disbursed, and shall be determined according to the percentage of disability issued by the medical committee for disability.
2. A sum of 650,000 JDs shall be paid in case of injury or disability.
Mechanism for Claiming Compensation:
1. Submit an application to the National Insurance Company including the location and time of the accident.
2. The company shall issue a letter to the police station where the accident is registered for the application of the priorities, after which the company shall take the procedures specified for the disbursement.
3. The year shall not exceed the year between the accident and the claim for compensation. If the year exceeds the right to claim for compensation is dropped , (the legal paragraph has been amended in respect of the period of the accident ).
4. He should not have taken the amount of al-Diyah (the tribal financial compensation ) from the body who caused the accident in the lawsuit, only to have the right to claim compensation.
Among the causes of accidents in Iraq:
As it is known, Iraq has not developed its traffic system since 2003, has not invented a strong system, has not invented modern operational vocabulary on traffic systems, has not announced the development of the system of control of traffic signs and the movement of individuals and vehicles , and did not enter the system of modern electronic applications , and the intersection points and subways were not distributed as determined by qualified engineers and specialists in the traffic system . There is no doubt that our traffic system has become chaotic in terms of the magnitude of the discrepancy and the vast difference between Iraq and other countries, and thousands of them are also driving their vehicles without driving license,, therefore, it is necessary for the traffic policeman to hold the violators accountable and to return to the system of fines, seizure, confiscation and the application the law to the all.
The traffic accidents in Iraq have become a humanitarian disaster in all its meaning, because of the increase in the number of victims every hour every day and throughout the year, except when we exclude the days or areas where the curfew is declared and the reason is the weakness of the government and its inability to enforce the laws.
While we find that the same law applies in the Kurdistan region with all its articles and amendments, and there we find the traffic policeman hold drivers accountable for driving license, which is the only standard for driving the vehicle, while in Baghdad every thing became confused , and we do not know what to hold.
According to previous reports issued by the World Health Organization, Iraq has been ranked the first in the world in the number of deaths due to traffic accidents that have escalated in recent years.
For its part, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said that despite the awareness campaigns carried out by the competent security authorities in the areas of awareness to reduce the risk of traffic accidents and exercise caution while driving, we still see daily dozens of terrible traffic accidents that kill the lives of civilians in bulk.
We conclude from the above that traffic accidents are many and increasing, they are no different from terrorism by killing innocent citizens, and they become an obsession and concern for the members of society, and problems that drain the material resources, and caused social problems and losses in human energies, that they affect the constituents of life in which human element is the basis of society, and it became necessary to work to reduce them and find appropriate solutions.
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies