Auto accidents occur all the time; in 2013, the Canadian Council of Motor Transportation Administrators recorded over 122,000 personal injury collisions and fatal accidents. While many of these accidents avoid any sort of legal proceeding; instead, getting settled by insurance companies, a large percentage in Ontario face auto accident settlements and lawsuits. Recently, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario commissioned an independent research company to collect statistics on these motor vehicle accident claims. Here is a summary of what they found.
Severity by Demographic
As you might expect in Ontario, the Greater Toronto Area comprises the majority of auto accident settlements. Considering that the GTA houses the largest percentage of Ontario’s population, its share of 43 percent of all claims should not come as any surprise. However, in terms of gross payment severity, the Northwestern Ontario region is responsible for a disproportionate percentage. This territory’s average severity is nearly double that of the GTA. In terms of driver type, motorcycle riders claim the highest gross payment severity, with 2.7 times the overall average. Furthermore, married males under the age of 25 tend to receive the highest severity claims.
Average Payments
As a whole, the average gross payment to any claimant was slightly below $120,000, while the median claim payment was $56,500. This means that the high-end claims outweigh the low-end claims. Of these payments, special damages (e.g. loss of income, medical and rehabilitation, housekeeping, etc.) contributed to 12 percent, while general damages (e.g. non-pecuniary losses, loss of future income, etc.) accounted for 64 percent.
For more auto accident settlement information, contact an experienced Toronto personal injury lawyer at Sokoloff for a free consultation.
Source:
https://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/en/auto/Documents/Abbreviated-Closed-Claim-Study-Report-2014-08-13.html#_Toc395273829
https://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/roadsafety/cmvtcs2013_eng.pdf