Protection Of The Third Party In Compulsory Traffic Accident Liability Insurance For Motor Vehicles

Compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles, which protects the interest of the third party, is considered as a progress of our country. But Chinese compulsory traffic accident liability insurance is still in its infancy, and many problems remain to be solved. This paper addresses these problems, and proposes some advices to improve the regulations. Comparative analysis method was used, and we referred to the experience of some developed countries or regions. We aim to protect the interest of the third party better, which means a lot to protection of the vulnerable groups as well as the stability and harmonious development of the society.This paper is organized as follows. First we introduced compulsory traffic accident liability insurance. Compulsory traffic accident liability insurance aimed to protect public interest, and to ensure that victims of traffic accidents get enough compensation timely. But now the value orientation of compulsory traffic accident liability insurance has changed. Initially it’s about protecting the interest of the insurants, with compensating the third party being a by-product. But now protecting the interests of the third party seems to be the first concern in lawmaking. And this makes the definition of the third party very important. Whether the third party should cover the insurant is controversial, and it should depend on the specific circumstance. If the insurant wasn’t driving, then he was a passenger or the victim. Whether the victim should be considered as the third party when he was also a passenger is also controversial. And we support that all passengers should be considered as victims and be compensated.The second part describes the current situation of the interest protection of the third party and analyzes the existing problems. We analyzed the existing regulations in two aspects, insuring and compensation. There are still many drawbacks, first, the definition of the insurants or the third party is too obscure, and when the accident is caused by illegal driver, there’s no guarantee of compensation. Second, the limitation of liability of compulsory traffic accident liability insurance is low and independent of the number of victims, so that it cannot protect the interest of the victims well. Third, the social relief fund system isn’t developed well.The third part is a survey on regulations of foreign countries. We introduced the law of several developed countries, and got some enlightenment on how to improve ours. First, their definition of the insurants or the third party is relatively loose, not only include the registered insurants. In Germany, the co-driver is also considered as the insurant; In the USA, anyone that uses a car is considered as an insurant. Second, the limitation of liability is set much too higher, and dependent of the number of people involved in an accident.The fourth part proposes some advices. We suggest that the insurants should cover those who drive the car without the permission of the owners, and those who drive the car without the driver license. We also suggest that the third party should cover all people in the car. And the limitation of liability should depend on the people involved in an accident. The social relief fund system should also be improved.