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By STEVE HUGHES
ALMOST half a million motorists a year are climbing aboard the bogus whiplash bandwagon, which is raising the cost of insurance premiums for law-abiding motorists by an average of pounds 65 a year.
Latest figures from the Association of British Insurers reveal that an average of 1,200 people claim for alleged whiplash injuries every day in the UK.
Last year the figure was 430,000 and this is expected to break through the half-million mark this year, amounting to an incredible pounds 2bn in compensation payouts to people claiming to be victims.
Lawyers cashing in on the compensation culture are urging anyone involved in an accident - no matter how minor - to contact them before they contact their insurance company.
They then persuade all of the occupants of the vehicle to claim for whiplash injuries, which because they are undetectable can not be defended by the insurance companies that are forced to make automatic payouts in every case.
This can be a standard payout of pounds 8,000 per person, amounting to pounds 40,000 for a car carrying five people .
Police say that many of the lowspeed accidents are deliberately staged by the two parties involved, but unless there are independent witnesses they are powerless to act.
The Automobile Association says that the scam is so lucrative that the number of people claiming to have suffered whiplash in minor shunts has soared by 25% in the last five years.
A report published today by the BIA entitled 'Tackling whiplash: prevention, care, compensation' says that 430,000 people claimed for whiplash injury in 2007, costing the insurance industry pounds 1.9bn in compensation.
AA Insurance director Simon Douglas, says: "The cost of whiplash claims equates to about pounds 66 for every UK car insurance policy, or about 14% of the average car insurance premium. This is more than twice the cost of claims for accidents with uninsured drivers.
"Over the past year the average premium for a comprehensive car insurance policy increased by 8.7% and whiplash injury will become an increasingly important factor in future premium increases."
The main beneficiaries of the wholesale whiplash compensation scam are the motorists claiming to have suffered the injuries and also the lawyers representing them, who make millions every year in costs for handling the cases, even though are undefended and are a formality.
The AA says that the relatively small number of genuine cases involving legitimate victims of whiplash are easily avoidable.
AA president Edmund King, says: "Drivers and passengers can help prevent themselves becoming victims of whiplash by adjusting head restraints before they drive off.
"The top of the head restraint should be level with the top of the driver's head, or at least no lower then eye level. Drivers can avoid inflicting whiplash on themselves and others by keeping a safe distance - at least two seconds - from the vehicle ahead."
A survey by the Thatcham crash laboratory of 1,400 drivers and their vehicles showed that only a quarter of men and just 43%of women had their head restraint in the correct position
(c) 2008 Evening Chronicle - Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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