Basing on the statistics of 2010, the Latvian Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) has created a map of Latvia showing locations with the highest proportion of road traffic accidents (RTA) caused by vehicles without MTPL insurance policy. As shown by the MIB data collected, the probability that the accident could be caused by a motor vehicle without MTPL insurance policy, is higher in Krāslava, Rēzekne, and Preiļi districts.
Currently, the share of uninsured car drivers in Latvia is ranging from 2 to 3%. However, there are still areas in Latvia, which show a dominant number of traffic accidents caused by uninsured vehicles. In these areas, first of all in Krāslava, Rēzekne and Preiļi districts, the percentage of traffic accidents caused by uninsured vehicles is up to two times higher than the average in Latvia.
In urban areas the proportion of uninsured vehicles is much lower than in rural areas. For example: in Rēzekne, Jelgava, Jūrmala, the proportion of RTA is not particularly high, and does not exceed the average in Latvia. But in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which has the largest number of registered vehicles and an intense traffic, traffic accidents with uninsured vehicles have been caused by only 1.3% of car owners.
Compared with figures of previous years, the tendency that in urban areas there are more accidents caused by uninsured vehicles than in rural areas is still remaining. This percentage is directly related to road traffic intensity in particular locations, for example, outside the cities most traffic accidents occur in places, through which runs a major highway. These statistical data were not collected with the aim of creating a negative image of certain regions, but rather to draw attention to the institutions responsible for "weak" points in on the map of Latvia.
According to the MIB data collected for the period till 28.06.2011, in the current year there have been 531 traffic accidents in Latvia caused by uninsured vehicles, and the victims of these accidents have received almost 362 thousand lats in total in compensation from the Guarantee Fund. Later those funds are recovered from the guilty driver or owner by the help of recourse procedure.
In the middle of September 2010, the Latvian MIB received the largest ever claim amounting to almost 300 thousand EUR for an accident caused by a Latvian-registered and uninsured motor vehicle in Ireland in 2006. As per today, already 142 thousand EUR are paid by the Guarantee Fund in connection with this accident.
Information source: Latvian Motor Insurers' Bureau