An amendment has been proposed to the Land Transport Act to mandate that land vehicles in the Maldives can only be operated with comprehensive motor insurance.
The first reading of the amendment, submitted by Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu), the MDP Member of Parliament for North Galolhu, has been scheduled for tomorrow’s session of the People’s Majlis.
The amendment states that land vehicles must be operated only after obtaining comprehensive motor insurance to provide compensation for damages caused to a person, place, or object in an accident, as well as damages sustained by the vehicle involved in the accident or the person driving the vehicle.
Currently, the law states that land vehicles must be operated only after obtaining third-party insurance to provide compensation for damages caused to a third party, place, or object in an accident.
Therefore, if the new amendment is passed, the third-party insurance currently being used must be changed to comprehensive insurance that covers all aspects. The bill also includes a list of requirements that must be fulfilled in a comprehensive motor insurance policy.
They are:
- Responsibility for the death of a third party, physical injury to a third party, or damage to a third party's property due to an accident.
- Responsibility for direct damage to one's own vehicle due to an accident, as well as damage caused by the vehicle overturning or the impact of an accident.
- Responsibility for damage caused by fire, theft, vandalism, or acts committed with the intent to cause damage.
- Responsibility for natural damages such as flooding, storms, tidal surges, or climate-related disasters.
- All matters specified in the regulations made under the law.
While MP Mohamed Ibrahim has submitted this amendment, the government has also proposed a new bill titled the "Land Transport Bill" to the Parliament to completely replace the existing Land Transport Act. That bill includes all rules concerning land transport and vehicles.
This is the first law being formulated to state these matters in such detail.
