Untitled

It really annoys me when people drive but do not have car insurance. It makes it so much more difficult when a driver who has no insurance hits you. Argh!

When I went travelling, I rented a car for driving around in Tasmania and New Zealand and was shocked to learn that about half of Kiwi’s do not own car insurance. In a way, I do get why people don’t purchase cover – 1 – because it can be really expensive 2 – in a financial downturn, everyone wants to look after their pennies, so get rid of things (such as insurance) that aren’t vital.

Maybe people don’t purchase car insurance because they see it as just another bill and in return they see no value. Nearly 12 out of every 100 cars are not insured. In some places, this figure is even higher – going up to15% of motorists who are uninsured.

It has been suggested that those without a policy drive the cost of premiums for the insured up. Oh dear.

I suppose some people like living on the edge, as driving safely means your premiums can remain quite low – as opposed to those who speed and are bad drivers.

Will the recession fuel more people to drop their car insurance and drive away into the sunset with no cover?

Whiplash injuries as common as an Aussie Barbie:

I was not surprised to read that Australia has witnessed a significant rise in whiplash claims in Taxis. When I was travelling in Australia, the taxi drivers were a law of their own! But then, is this not the taxi driver stereotype? I have been is several near accidents when travelling in Taxi’s and this is because the driver’s go so fast, so they can drop you off and get to the next pick up.

Experts have stated that the rise in whiplash claims is because of pure bad driving and a general disregard for road rules and safety.

Injury lawyers have commented that it is just not only passengers who have suffered whiplash injury, but taxi drivers who have crashed into other taxi’s too! What a mess.

Whiplash is a terrible injury, and can take months to heal. Perhaps the government should invest more money into distinguishing false claims to genuine ones?

Emmaus:

Has anyone been to a place called Emmaus? It’s great. It is an organisation that takes homeless people off the street and trains them up to work and help in society. It also has boutiques and furniture warehouses to sell. It is a great place. Most recommended.

Death by food:

For anyone who likes eating, maybe it is best to look away now. A study has revealed that 80% of car accidents are caused not by texting, drugs or alcohol – but by eating behind the wheel!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted the study which also revealed that 65% of near misses can be blamed on snacking on the go. Burgers and coffee were the main culprits behind crashes, according to the results.

Soup and my personal favourite chocolate (tell me it isn’t so) were condemned in the survey because they increase lack of concentration and poor driving.

Another road safety group held a similar survey and found the results to be the same. It revealed that with more than 70% of drivers admitting to eating while driving and 83% saying they drank hot or cold beverages behind the wheel.

I can see how food and liquids are a distraction – all it takes is one bump to cause the lid off a coffee cup to come off and you have a crash. What would happen a food penalty was be installed?

The Mentalist:

Did anyone watch The Mentalist Finale? It was great. So close to seeing Red John, but yet so far! What am I going to watch now on Thursday!

Car hire, so you can be on fire:

I was not surprised to read that bank holiday travellers have been warned by car hire companies that there will be rental rate increases ad vehicle shortages at key destinations. Is this really a wonder with the recession and thousands staying in the UK for ‘stay-cations’?!

Therefore, lack of care hire is predicted to be huge problem for vacationers this year. As a result, many have been advised to book early and look beyond brand names – if they want to be saved from disappointment.

Again and again we are always reminded to shop around and to research for the best deal – this defiantly seems to apply for this situation. I would hate to assume that when I got somewhere, a car would be available – only to turn out there were none and have a terrible holiday! This happened to my friend, who went to Tasmania for four days, and couldn’t hire a care until the third day – and had to stay in Hobart the whole time!

Flowers:

Does anyone like flowers here? Inter Flora are really good. I received a beautiful ‘Happy Birthday’ bouquet, full of lily’s, roses, tulips and accompanied with a huge balloon. Really impressed and would defiantly recommend!

Botched jobs:

However, home insurance firms have warned that property owners could be at risk of invalidating their insurance policies should anything go wrong.

With the average cost of a claim for DIY related damage being £600, DIY enthusiasts should consider checking their home insurance policies to ensure that it covers them for accidental damage in case the job goes terribly erroneous.

Shockingly, 16% of people have damaged their home while attempting to make improvements.

Garden paradise:

Gardeners in the UK spend around £4 billion a year on plants and general improvements, but this has lead to an increase in opportunistic thieves taking things from outside peoples’ homes.

More than one million garden thefts are reported each year, with a new phenomenon of ‘garden stripping’ becoming ever more common. This involves the practice of plants, shrubs, furniture, tools and water features being removed from the grounds of someone’s home. Oh dear!

Insurers offer vandal damage:

A British Crime Survey report exposed that there were over 1.7 million separate incidents of car vandalism recorded last year. Vandalism accounted for 17% of crime overall.

Bosses at the insurer are providing extra cover for consumers because they thought it was unfair people who had been victims of car crime should be further punished. The insurance covers against damage caused by car vandals such as key scratches, slashed tyres, graffiti and smashed mirrors. I think this cover is a great idea.

Work accident horror:

An injury lawyer has warned workers to remain aware when it comes to health and safety matters, and to report any failures in risk assessment.

The advice comes after three construction workers received injuries after being hit by a machine. The mobile construction machine crashed into temporary steel work, injuring the three labourers. The work incident happened around Wednesday 3.30pm last week.

The collapse of the steel work hit the workers, throwing them to the ground. As a result, the contractor for the project was forced to halt construction work for a day after the incident. How scary!

Shocker!

A doctor attempted to file a compensation claim, because he was stopped from sexually assaulting a patient.

The man believed he was owed $2 million in compensation, but the judge ruled that any damage he suffered from committing the crime was his own fault, and that the hospital had no legal duty to protect him from that choice! Shocker!

Explosive case:

It has been revealed that the owner of a fireworks business has appeared in a Bath court, after a string of health and safety and fraud offences eventually caught him out.

The 28-year-old from Mangotsfield, Bristol, allegedly failed to provide his staff with the proper health and safety training resulting in an incident where a member of staff received personal injuries during a firework display. It is unknown if the worker filed a compensation claim.

The accident prompted Bath and North East Somerset Council’s health and safety team to investigate the firm and as a resulted, contacted trading standards about future worries.

The boss was charged with 17 offences, including failing to identify the hazards involved with setting up and firing mines, failing to provide suitable personal protective equipment for employees and failing to inform the authorities after an employee suffered a major injury at work. Shocking!

Crazy!

Blackpool theme park, may face a huge claims cases, after one of the roads broke and injured amass of people.

The arm on the Crazy Frog, at the Central Pier, snapped off just before 10.30pm in July. The accident left two riders needing hospital treatment.

Fire fighters arrived at the horrifying scene to find a girl trapped in the carriage attached to the arm that had broken off. She suffered minor leg injuries, while another woman was hit by a piece of shrapnel from the ride. Scary!

Lawyer concerned over elderly falls:

An injury claims lawyer has expressed his concern over the amount of falls elderly people have on buses.

Apparently, a study revealed that more than 800 elderly people per day suffer from falls on buses. I hope this survey highlights the dangers older people face and hopefully something will be done.

Mind you, if the government does stop middle class pensioners from using their bus passes – the problem will be solved!

The road to fakedom:

Rear-end accidents are by far the most common type of crash on British roads, with 420,000 such bumps a year accounting for one in four of all road accidents.

While the overall amount of UK drivers being involved in collisions has been falling steadily for several years, rear end shunts have shunted up.

This is because whiplash personal injury from a road accident is also the most faked personal injury when it comes to false injury claims.

A recent investigation by GPs across the UK, has shown that there has been a 24% increase in people fraudulently claiming they had been injured in a car accident since the recession began. 98% of all the GPs surveyed said they had seen a patient whom they believed was exaggerating an injury caused by a car accident so they would be compensated for it. Oh my!

Road claims given the red light:

I was surprised to read that a reform on personal injury claims processed by road victims may be halted due to problems the new system will create.

It was hoped that the new claims system will speed up claims for road victims, but many insurers and experts have slated the proposal.

It is feared that the system will cause widespread confusion and delays to access to justice for Joe Public. Some have even stated that the Government's response is due to desperation to be seen to be doing something, while maintaining the Labour Party income stream which derives largely from unions that refer workplace injury and disease claims to claimant lawyers. Oh –er!

Car policies speed up:

The average premium for comprehensive car cover shot up by 3.5% to £778.13 between April and June. The AA noted that personal injury claims, theft and fraud were to blame for the sudden rise. Personal injury claims and their linked legal expenses are expected to hike up to £10.9 billion by 2012.

Whiplash injury and whiplash claims alone represent around £66 for every car insurance policy sold to motorists. Oh dear.

Honesty is the best policy:

I was pleased to read that doctors are starting to realise that honesty is the best policy when it comes to professional negligence.

Such as issue is hot gossip at the moment, after doctors left a sponge in a patient. Yuk! However, more doctors are tackling medical malpractice and professional negligence, instead of denying or defending their actions.

A chief medical officer noted that research showed that being honest is best for both the hospital and its patients. He said that the hospital he works in is vigilant and when a doctor has clearly committed professional negligence, responsibility is taken. This is good news.

Not 1st class treatment:

Apparently, the Royal Mail has paid out 12 million pounds in compensation last year, paying out in over 555,416 compensation claims.

These claims range from loss or delay of letter delivery to rudeness of staff, these new figures equate to the Royal Mail paying out for more than 1000 compensation claims each day for lost or damaged post. Apparently, The complaints equate to about one for every 15,000 letters Oh dear!