The Central Insurance company of Iran and the National Traffic Police have signed an agreement on developing a comprehensive platform for online car accident reporting.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, General Kamal Hadianfar, the National Traffic Police chief, said the platform allows uploading photos or footage of the accident along with experts' analysis of the mishap, which will also be accessible by insurance companies.”
Majid Behzadpour, the CII chief, referred to the preparation of infrastructures for online reporting of car accidents by the Traffic Police.
"The Insurance industry supports technological development, especially this online reporting of car accidents," the CII public relations department quoted him as saying.
Third-party auto insurance is mandatory in Iran and car owners lacking the policy are penalized. It essentially is a form of liability insurance according to which, in the case of road mishap, the insurer is required to compensate the harmed party for physical or financial loss.
Third-party auto policies accounted for the largest share of premium with nearly one-third (34.8%) of the total income during 11 months to February 19. Premium from third-party auto policies reached 350 trillion rials ($1.34 billion), up 46.7% on the same period last year.
Third party auto payouts accounted for 32.4% of the total payout. Nearly 175.1 trillion rials ($673m) was paid in compensation in this category alone.
"Implementation of the platform will help accelerate the loss payment by insurance companies," the CII head said, "It also should help reduce the number of fake car accidents."
Total auto insurance fraud is estimated to be more than 20 trillion rials ($71 million) a year.
A pilot platform for online reporting of car accidents was launched in Qom Province in 2020, said the official, "Flaws and loopholes were found and addressed in the pilot phase."
The Electronic Police Plan will also help compile data on driver safety, road accidents and fatalities.
Behzadpour called for closer collaboration between state departments for developing new tools for enhancing services.
Iran has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world. Annually over 20,000 people are killed and 800,000 injured in road crashes.
The Traffic Police has long blamed domestic automakers, mostly state-owned, as the poor quality of cars and strange indifference of carmakers continues to take a heavy toll on precious human life, livelihoods and the economy.
