Thailand’s Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) and Department of Land Transport (DLT) will begin sharing real-time data on compulsory car insurance within this year, as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the number of uninsured vehicles, especially motorcycles, on the roads.
The two agencies have signed an agreement to develop an IT system to track the insurance status of vehicles, according to a report by the Chiang Rai Times. This will allow the DLT to check whether a vehicle is insured, thanks to real-time data from insurers.
Thus, owners of uninsured vehicles will not be able to renew the vehicle’s registration without cover.
Motor insurance has been mandatory in Thailand for 27 years, but lack of integration and data sharing has allowed numerous vehicles to continue plying the roads without cover. Drunk driving, corrupt officers, and weak enforcement of the law have compounded Thailand’s road safety problems.
Thailand has the deadliest roads in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 22,941 annual fatalities due to traffic-related incidents, based on World Health Organization data. More than seven in 10 (73%) of these deaths are motorcycle riders. Many accidents are clustered around the New Year holiday, leading to the period being dubbed the “seven dangerous days.”
