Tunisia: Number of road accidents caused by foreigners jumps in first 9 months
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jan 2024
The number of road accidents caused by foreigners in Tunisia totalled 744 in the nine months to 30 September 2023, an increase of 37% y-o-y.
Tunisian Automobile Bureau (BUAT), director-general Ahmed Hadrouk in a statement to Tunis Afrique Presse said that there was a 121% increase in the number of orange card claims declared to the Bureau. The most number of claims were lodged by Algerian motorists, who accounted for 132 cases.
The orange card system essentially aims to facilitate the movement of vehicles and people between Arab countries that are signatories to an Arab motor insurance convention and to promote commercial exchanges between the countries.
Mr Hadrouk said that there has been an increase in the number of accidents involving Algerians in Tunisia since the reopening of the borders with Tunisia in July 2022 after a closure that lasted almost two years due to COVID-19.
Compensation payments made by the BUAT to victims of traffic accidents in the first nine months of this year reached approximately TND5.5m ($1.77m) compared to TND4.4m for the same period in 2022, an increase of 25%.
BUAT is a professional association responsible for managing the international insurance card scheme in Tunisia. It was established by Tunisian insurance companies that offer motor third-party liability insurance.