United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents from 31 July 2013, otherwise known as the RTA Protocol,describes the behaviour the court expects of the parties prior to the start of proceedings where a claimant claims damages valued at no more than the Protocol upper limit as a result of a personal injury sustained by that person in a road traffic accident. As of February 2022 the "upper limit" is £25,000 for an accident which occurred on or after 31 July 2013; the limit under a previous version of the protocol was £10,000 for an accident which had occurred on or after 30 April 2010 but before 31 July 2013. United States
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the workplace in the United States accounting for 35 percent of all workplace fatalities. In the United States, individuals involved in motor vehicle collisions may be held financially liable for the consequences of a collision, including property damage, and injuries to passengers and drivers. Where another drivers vehicle is damaged as the result of a crash, some states allow the owner of the vehicle to recover both the cost of repair for the diminished value of the vehicle from the at-fault driver. Because the financial liability that results from causing a crash is so high, most U.S. states require drivers to carry liability insurance to cover these potential costs.
This may be due to working-class people having less access to secure equipment in cars, having older cars which are less protected against crash, and needing to cover more distance to go to work each day. COVID-19 impact on traffic incidents
While the advent of the COVID lockdown meant a decrease in road traffic in the United States, the rates of incidents, speeding, and traffic fatalities rose in 2020 and 2021 (rate as measured against vehicle miles traveled). The traffic fatality rate jumped to 1.25 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, up from 1.06 during the same period in 2019. Reasons cited for the increases are greater speeds, not wearing seatbelts, and driving while impaired.In their preliminary report covering the first six months of 2021, the US nonprofit public safety advocacy group, the National Safety Council (NSC) estimated of total motor-vehicle deaths for the first six months of 2021 were 21,450, up 16% from 2020 and up 17% from 18,384 in 2019. The estimated mileage death rate in 2021 was 1.43 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, up 3% from 1.39 in 2020 and up 24% from 1.15 in 2019.Preliminary data also show that even as traffic levels returned to normal after the onset of COVID in March–April 2020, drivers continued to drive at excessive speeds.