4 Automobile liability security system

The Automobile Liability Security Act (Act No. 97 of 1955) was designed to protect victims that were killed or injured in an automobile accident by establishing a system that guarantees damage compensation. Third-party automobile liability insurance and mutual automobile liability insurance (hereinafter referred to as “automobile liability insurance, etc.” in this subsection) constitute the core of the automobile liability insurance system.

In order to complement the automobile liability insurance, etc., the government also has an automobile liability compensation system in place. The government uses the system to provide damage compensation to victims of “hit-and-run cases” where the perpetrators cannot be identified or accidents caused by “uninsured” automobiles as any such victims typically cannot receive any compensation from automobile liability insurance, etc. The amount of compensation is determined in view of criteria used to make the benefits available under automobile liability insurance, etc. In FY 2009 the system covered 1,687 victims of hit-and-run cases and 543 victims of accidents caused by uninsured automobiles. The system, on average, paid approximately 22.09 million yen per person killed and approximately 0.85 million yen per person injured (Source: The Road Transport Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism).