New trick criminals use to cause car accidents and get money

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) warned of a new trend where people throw themselves against moving vehicles to claim money.

It explained that these fraudsters wait for the vehicles to slow down enough that they don’t get killed on impact before throwing themselves.

“This behaviour is dangerous and adds unnecessary pressure on the fund, which must assess and investigate claims of rightful claimants efficiently,” the RAF said.

The RAF added that it does not compensate someone who intentionally causes a motor vehicle accident, even if this results in serious injuries.

“In the event of death, the RAF further does not compensate beneficiaries of those who are the authors of their own misfortune,” it explained.

The RAF Act requires that the respective degrees of fault, blame or negligence, amongst other things, must be determined upon receiving a claim.

49 631 claims were declined from 2021/2022 to 2023/24 for numerous reasons, including:

• Cases where a claimant was solely responsible for causing the road crash.
• Claims where the claimant died before finalisation of the claim.
• Injuries sustained were so minor that no claim for damages arose.
• Claims that were lodged fraudulently. 

The RAF said over the last five years, South Africa recorded a total of 7,987 road fatalities during the festive season.

Festive season road crash statistics cover 42 days, from 01 December to 11 January each year. 84% of these fatal road crashes resulted from human conduct.

Pedestrians and passengers were the most affected road users at 40% and 33% respectively, followed by drivers (26%) and cyclists (1%).

The RAF has been facing significant financial challenges, which Zakhele Mthembu, policy officer at the Free Market Foundation, said should serve as a lesson.

The Road Accident Fund Act of 1996 established the current version of the RAF, which acts as a state-enforced and operated insurance scheme for motor vehicles in South Africa.

The RAF is funded through a levy on every fuel purchase in the country. The rationale behind creating such a fund was to ensure that no one would be left uninsured.

The idea of a shared pool was appealing to South African lawmakers because uninsured drivers pose a higher risk of non-compensation in the event of an injury or motor vehicle accident.

However, numerous problems with the RAF resulted in it becoming technically insolvent, which means its liabilities are higher than its assets.

“This is despite the creative accounting the entity has recently tried to implement,” Mthembu said.