(a) to repeal the Transport Accidents
Compensation Act 1987 and thereby to abolish the scheme for compensating
victims of transport accidents (TransCover) established under that Act, and
(b) to re-instate a common law based scheme under which damages can only be
awarded after a finding of negligence, and
(c) by the scheme under this Act:
(i) to reduce the cost of the former common law based scheme by limiting
benefits for non-economic loss in the case of relatively minor injuries, and
(ii) to introduce a stricter procedure for the making and assessment of claims
for damages, and
(iii) to preserve the benefits payable to persons with more
severe injuries involving on-going disability, and
(iv) to give full weight
to the need to identify fraudulent claims, deter their lodgment and prosecute
those responsible for them, and
(v) to encourage recovery from injury and
early and effective rehabilitation, where appropriate, as a key feature of the
scheme, and
(vi) to encourage the speedy, efficient and effective provision
of benefits balanced by the need to investigate claims properly and the need
to encourage an early return to employment.
Note : This statement of objects
is based on the introduction to the outline of Option 3 in the TransCover
Review, published in Motor Accidents: The Act and Background Papers by the
Attorney General's Department, 1989, p 101.
(2) It must be acknowledged in
the application and administration of this Act:
(a) that participants in the
scheme under this Act have shared and integrated roles with the overall aim of
benefiting all members of the motoring public by keeping the overall costs of
the scheme within reasonable bounds so as to keep premiums affordable, and
(b) that the law (both the enacted law and the common law) relating to the
assessment of damages in claims made under this Act should be interpreted and
applied in a way that acknowledges the clear legislative intention to restrict
the level of non-economic loss compensation in cases of minor injuries, and
(c) that:
(i) the premium pool from which each insurer pays claims consists at
any given time of a finite amount of money, and
(ii) insurers are obliged
under this Act to charge premiums that will fully fund their anticipated
liability, and
(iii) the preparation of fully funded premiums requires a
large measure of stability and predictability regarding the likely future
number and cost of claims arising under policies sold once the premium is in
place, and
(iv) the stability and predictability referred to in subparagraph
(iii) require consistent and stable application of the law.