The Road Accident Fund (RAF) says it has become aware of a trend where some people deliberately throw themselves at moving cars in order to claim for injuries sustained on the road.
As a result, it said should it find evidence that a claimant did that, it will not pay out the claim.
In a statement released on Tuesday, December 10, the RAF said they were concerned about the new trend of people who deliberately caused their own deaths on the roads to cash in.
“The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is aware of a trend where people throw themselves against moving vehicles, to enable themselves to claim from the Fund. Apparently, such people wait for the vehicles to slow down enough that they don’t get killed on impact before throwing themselves.
“This behaviour is dangerous and adds unnecessary pressure on the Fund which must assess and investigate claims of rightful claimants efficiently,” the RAF said.
Moreover, the fund said it does not compensate motorists who deliberately cause accidents even if they have been badly injured.
“The RAF does not compensate someone who intentionally causes a motor vehicle accident, even if this results in serious injuries. In the event of death, the RAF further does not compensate beneficiaries of those who are the authors of their own misfortune.
“The RAF Act requires that the respective degrees of fault, blame or negligence, amongst other things, must be determined upon receiving a claim.
“We acknowledge road users may be faced with socio-economic challenges. However, road safety and road crash prevention efforts must remain a priority to all as they contribute towards the reduction of accidents,” the fund added.
The fund also revealed that between 2021 and 2024, it has turned down almost 50 000 claims because it found negligence on the part of claimants and fraud.
“A total of 49 631 claims were declined from 2021/2022 to 2023/24. The reasons for this include: cases where a claimant was solely responsible for causing the road crash; claims where the claimant died before finalisation of the claim; where injuries sustained were so minor that no claim for damages arose; and claims that were lodged fraudulently.”
