Dangerous transport: how a taxi turned from a means of transportation into a threat on the road — experts say

CrimeaPRESS reports:

Taxi is convenient, we think. Taxis are dangerous, statistics say. In particular, Evgeny Ufimtsev, President of the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RUA), notes that “today taxis are not only highly unprofitable for insurers, but also a rather dangerous type of public transport for both passengers and other road users. According to the PCA, every third taxi, according to statistics, becomes the culprit of an accident.

This is confirmed by the data of the Bank of Russia, according to which the frequency of insured events under OSAGO agreements for taxis is seven times higher than for other passenger vehicles.

At the same time, until recently, a taxi remained the only type of passenger transport that was not subject to the law on compulsory civil liability insurance of carriers (OSGOP). The injured taxi passengers were protected only by the OSAGO law, according to which the maximum compensation for the death of a person is 500 thousand rubles. The scale of the problem attracted the attention of legislators — on June 13, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law on compulsory insurance of taxi passengers, according to which, from September 1, 2024, the amount of insurance payments will be increased four times (up to 2 million rubles). That is, now a legal entity or individual entrepreneur who has received permission to transport a taxi will be required to insure their liability in the amount of 2 million rubles. for causing harm to the life of a passenger. According to preliminary calculations, the new type of insurance will cost 52 kopecks per trip, and the cost of a taxi owner’s compulsory liability insurance policy to passengers will be about 2.5-3 thousand rubles a year.

Taxi drivers and owners of taxi companies are expectedly dissatisfied and say that these measures are unnecessary. But facts are stubborn things. According to the statistics of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Russian Federation, in May 2023 alone, due to the fault of drivers licensed for transportation activities, 171 accidents occurred, in which 224 people were injured, and 8 people died. In total, from January to May of this year, 990 people were injured in taxi accidents.

According to the PCA, the share of taxi drivers consistently demonstrating accident-free driving was only 12% at the end of 2022, the average cost of an OSAGO policy for them was 10,243 rubles. In general, while in the country 94% of all car owners have a discount on an OSAGO policy for accident-free driving, in taxis only 51% of them (their “bonus-malus” coefficient is less than one). This inevitably affects the average cost of insurance in the segment. According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the average cost of an OSAGO policy for a taxi in 2022 was 26,471 rubles.

Recall that for many years the tariffs of «avtocitizen» could be safely called «equalization» — when buying an OSAGO policy, motorists paid extra for high-accident drivers, including taxi drivers. Thanks to the liberalization of OSAGO tariffs, this practice is gradually becoming a thing of the past, as the expansion of the tariff corridor contributes to the introduction of the “pay as you drive” principle. An increasing number of drivers understand that reckless on the roads is no longer just not fashionable, but also expensive, and they monitor their KBM. It remains to be hoped that soon the taxi industry will realize that it is more profitable to hire professional drivers and take care of their work and rest schedule, this will help reduce not only insurance costs, but also accidents on our roads, as well as increase the safety of other road users.

source: press service of the information project «OSAGO: public expertise»

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