SG: Claims for bicycle accidents on the up

In 2012, AIG received 156 injury claims from cyclists, up from the 94 and 77 in 2011 and 2010 respectively. They believe that the increase in claims is linked to the increase in the amount of cyclists. AIG also predicts that the figures will rise significantly this year, for it has already received 105 claims from January to June this year. It is believed that some claims involve off duty foreign workers who cycle to get to on fro, while others believe that the claims come from recreational cyclists in parks and reservoirs. So why is there such a significant increase in the amount of claims from cyclists? Well, the majority of the cyclists do not follow basic traffic rules, with some colliding with pedestrians and vehicles when they chose to cross when the light was not in their favour. One method of reducing the amount of claims is to increase the amount of police patrols, says Mr Mohamed Salim Mohd Amin, a cyclist and Lead Manager at BikInsurance, the only insurer for cyclists in Singapore. He hopes that with more enforcement, the drivers will keep a keener eye on cyclists and leave them more room on the roads.Pictures used for illustration purposes only.