MOTOR VEHICLES (THIRD PARTY INSURANCE) ACT - 1958
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(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
"company" includes any company registered or required to be registered under the provisions of the Companies Ordinance, any corporation incorporated by law and any firm or partnership;
No. 55 of 1952
"driving licence" means a licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under the provisions of the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1952;
"highway" includes any roadway or place to which the public lawfully have free access;
"insurer" and "approved insurer" mean a person or body of persons carrying on an insurance business approved by the Minister;
"local authority" means a council established under the provisions of the Local Government Ordinance or the Municipal Councils Ordinance, 1953 or any Act amending either of the said Ordinances;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the Interior;
"passenger vehicle" means a motor vehicle used for carrying passengers for hire or reward;
"policy" and "policy of insurance" means a policy of insurance in respect of third party risks arising out of the use of motor vehicles, being a policy which complies with the provisions of this Act, and includes a covering note issued in respect of any such policy;
"security" means such security in respect of third party risks arising out of the use of motor vehicles as complies with the provisions of this Act.
No. 55 of 1952.
(2) If any word or expression used in this Act is defined in the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1952, such word or expression, unless the context otherwise requires, shall have in this Act the meaning assigned to it in the said Ordinance.
(3) Any reference in this Act to the expressions "bankrupt" or "bankruptcy" in relation to a person shall be construed as a reference to any person who is insolvent or has entered into a composition or arrangement with his creditors or who has been adjudicated bankrupt under the provisions of any enactment relating to bankruptcy having effect for the time being in Ghana.
(4) Any reference in this Act to the use of a motor vehicle shall be construed as referring only to the use thereof on any highway as defined in this Act.
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(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act no person shall use, or cause or permit any other person to use, a motor vehicle unless there is in force in relation to the user of that motor vehicle by such person or such other person, as the case may be, such a policy of insurance or such security in respect of third party risks as complies with the provisions of this Act.
(2) Any person acting in contravention of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds or to imprisonment for one year or to both such fine and imprisonment and a person convicted of an offence under this section shall be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence.
(3) A disqualification under the provisions of subsection (2), unless the court for special reasons to be recorded otherwise orders, shall be for a minimum period of twelve months from the date of the conviction, and any person so disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence under the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be so disqualified under the provisions of the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1952.
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Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law which prescribes a time within which proceedings may be brought before a court, proceedings in respect of an offence under section 3 may be instituted-
(a) within a period of six months from the date of the commission of the alleged offence; or
(b) within a period which exceeds neither six months from the date on which it came to the knowledge of the prosecutor that the offence had been committed, nor one year from the date of the commission of the offence,
whichever period is the longer.
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(1) A policy of insurance for the purposes of this Act must be a policy which -
(a) is issued by an insurer approved by the Minister; and
(b) insures such persons or classes of person as may be specified in the policy in respect of any liability which may be incurred by him or them in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person caused by or arising out of the use of a motor vehicle covered by the policy:
Provided that such policy shall not be required to cover-
(a) liability in respect of the death arising out of and in the course of his employment of a person in the employment of a person insured by the policy or of bodily injury sustained by such a person arising out of and in the course of his employment; or
(b) save in the case of a passenger vehicle or where persons are carried by reason of or in pursuance of a contract of employment, liability in respect of the death of or bodily injury to persons being carried in or upon or entering or getting on to or alighting from a motor vehicle at the time of the occurrence of the event out of which the claims arise; or
(c) any contractual liability.
(2) Where any payment is made, whether or not with an admission of liability, by -
(a) an insurer under or in consequence of a policy issued under the provisions of this Act; or
(b) the owner of a motor vehicle in relation to the user of which a security under section 7 is in force; or
(c) the owner of a motor vehicle who has made a deposit under section 5,
in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person arising out of the use of a motor vehicle and the person who has so died or received bodily injury has to the knowledge of the insurer or such owner, as the case may be, received treatment at a hospital, whether as an in-patient or an out-patient, in respect of the injury so arising there shall be also paid by the insurer or such owner to such hospital the expenses reasonably incurred by such hospital in giving such treatment after deducting any money actually received by such hospital in payment of a specific charge for treatment:
Provided that the amount to be paid by the approved insurer or the owner shall not exceed fifty pounds for each person so treated as an in-patient and five pounds for each person so treated as an out-patient.
(3) [Repealed by Contracts Act, 1960 (Act 25), s.18]
Certificate of Insurance.
(4) A policy shall be of no effect for the purposes of this Act unless and until there is issued by the insurer to the person by whom the policy is effected a certificate, in this Act referred to as a certificate of insurance, in the prescribed form and containing such particulars of any conditions subject to which the policy is issued and of such other matters as may be prescribed.
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(1) For the purposes of this Act a security must -
(a) be given either by an insurer approved by the Minister or by a person, company or body of persons approved by the Minister carrying on the business of giving securities of a like kind; and
(b) consist of an undertaking by the giver of the security to make good, subject to any conditions contained therein, any failure by the owner of any passenger or other motor vehicle or such other persons or classes of person as may be specified in the security duly to discharge any such liability as is required to be covered by a policy of insurance issued under the provisions of this Act which may be incurred by him or them, and such security shall in the case of an undertaking relating to the use of a passenger vehicle be up to an amount of not less than twenty-five thousand pounds and in other case of not less than five thousand pounds.
(2) A security shall be of no effect for the purposes of this Act unless and until there is issued by the person giving the security to the person to whom it is given a certificate, in this Act referred to as a certificate of security, in the prescribed form and containing such particulars of any conditions subject to which the security is issued and of such other matters as may be prescribed.
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Any condition in a policy or security issued or given for the purposes of this Act providing that no liability shall arise under the policy or security, or that any liability so arising shall cease in the event of some specified thing being done or omitted to be done after the happening of the event giving rise to a claim under the policy or security, shall be of no effect in connection with such claims as are set out in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 6:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be so construed as to render void any provision in a policy or security requiring the person insured or secured to repay to the insurer or the giver of the security any sums which the insurer or the giver of the security may have become liable to pay under the policy or the security and which have been applied to the satisfaction of the claims of third parties.
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Where a certificate of insurance has been delivered under the provisions of subsection (4) of section 6 to the person by whom a policy has been effected so much of the policy as purports to restrict the insurance of the person insured thereby in respect of any of the following matters -
(a) the age or physical or mental condition of persons driving the motor vehicle; or
(b) the condition of the motor vehicle; or
(c) the number of persons that the motor vehicle carries; or
(d) the weight or physical characteristics of the goods that the motor vehicle carries; or
(e) the times at which or the areas within which the motor vehicle is used; or
(f) the horsepower or value of the motor vehicle; or
(g) the carrying on the motor vehicle of any particular apparatus; or
(h) the carrying on the motor vehicle of any particular means of identification other than any means of identification required to be carried under the provisions of the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1952,
No. 55 of 1952
shall, in respect of such liabilities as are required to be covered by a policy under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 6, be of no effect:
Provided that nothing in this section shall require an insurer to pay any sum in respect of the liability of any person otherwise than in or towards the discharge of that liability and any sum paid by an insurer in or towards the discharge of the liability of any person which is covered by the policy by virtue only of this section shall be recoverable by the insurer from that person.
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(1) If after a certificate of insurance has been delivered under the provisions of subsection (4) of section 6 to the person by whom a policy has been effected judgment in respect of any such liability as is required to be covered by a policy issued under the provisions of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 6, being a liability covered by the terms of the policy, is obtained against any person insured by the policy then, notwithstanding that the insurer may be entitled to avoid or cancel or may have avoided or cancelled the policy, the insurer shall, subject to the provisions of this section, pay to the persons entitled to the benefit of such judgment any sum payable thereunder in respect of the liability including any sum payable in respect of costs and any sums payable by virtue of any written law in respect of interest on that sum or judgment.
(2) No sum shall be payable by an insurer under the provisions of subsection (1) -
(a) in respect of any judgment unless before or within fourteen days after the commencement of the proceedings in which the judgment was given the insurer had notice of the bringing of the proceedings; or
(b) in respect of any judgment so long as execution thereon is stayed pending an appeal; or
(c) in connection with any liability if before the happening of the event, which was the cause of the death or bodily injury giving rise to the liability, the policy was cancelled by mutual consent or by virtue of any provision contained therein and either -
(i) before the happening of such event the certificate of insurance was surrendered to the insurer, or the person to whom the certificate of insurance was delivered made a statutory declaration stating that the certificate of insurance had been lost or destroyed and so could not be surrendered; or
(ii) after the happening of such event but before the expiration of fourteen days from the taking effect of the cancellation of the policy the certificate of insurance was surrendered to the insurer, or the person to whom the certificate of insurance was delivered made a statutory declaration that the certificate of insurance had been lost or destroyed and so could not be surrendered; or
(iii) either before or after the happening of the event or within a period of fourteen days from the taking effect of the cancellation of the policy the insurer had commenced proceedings under this Act in respect of the failure to surrender the certificate of insurance.
(3) No sum shall be payable by an insurer under the provisions of this section if in an action commenced before or within three months after the commencement of the proceedings in which the judgment was given he has obtained a declaration that apart from any provision contained in the policy, he is entitled to avoid it on the ground that it was obtained by the non-disclosure of a material fact or by a representation of fact which was false in a material particular or if he has avoided the policy on the ground that he was entitled to do so apart from any provision contained in it:
Provided that an insurer who has obtained such a declaration in an action shall not thereby be entitled to the benefit of the provisions of this subsection in respect of any judgment obtained in any proceedings commenced before the commencement of that action unless before or within seven days after the commencement of that action he has given notice thereof to the person who is plaintiff in the action under the policy specifying the non-disclosure or false representation on which he proposes to rely and that he intends to seek a declaration and any person to whom notice of such action is given may, if he desires, be made a party thereto.
(4) If the amount which an insurer under the provisions of this section becomes liable to pay in respect of the liability of a person insured by a policy exceeds the amount for which he would, apart from the provisions of this section, be liable to pay under the policy in respect of that liability he shall be entitled to recover the excess from that person.
(5) In this section-
"liability covered by the terms of the policy" means a liability which is covered by the policy or which would be so covered were it not that the insurer is entitled to avoid or cancel or has avoided or cancelled the policy; and
"material" means of such a nature as to influence the judgment of a prudent insurer in determining whether he will accept the risk and if so, at what premium and on what conditions.
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Where a person who is insured under a policy issued for the purposes of this Act has become bankrupt or where such insured person being a company a winding-up order has been made or a resolution for a voluntary winding-up has been passed with respect to that company, no agreement made between the insurer and the insured after liability has been incurred to a third party and after the commencement of the bankruptcy or the winding-up, as the case may be, nor any waiver, assignment or other disposition made by or payment made to the insured after such commencement shall be effective to defeat or affect the rights transferred to or vested in the third party under the provisions of this Act and such rights shall be the same as if no such agreement, waiver, assignment, disposition or payment had been made.
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Where under the provisions of this Act a certificate of insurance has been delivered to the person by whom a policy has been effected the happening in relation to any person insured by the policy of any of the events specified in subsection (1) or subsection (2) of section 11, notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, shall not affect any such liability of that person as is required to be covered by a policy under the provisions of this Act, and nothing in this section shall affect any rights against the insurer conferred under the provisions of sections 11, 12 and 13 on the person to whom the liability was incurred.
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Where a certificate of insurance has been delivered under the provisions of this Act to the person by whom a policy has been effected and the policy is cancelled by mutual consent or by virtue of any provision in the policy, the person to whom such certificate was delivered shall, within seven days from the taking effect of the cancellation of such policy, surrender such certificate to the insurer or if such certificate has been lost or destroyed make a statutory declaration to that effect and any person contravening the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
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(1) Any person driving a motor vehicle on a highway shall, on being so required by a police officer, give his name and address and the name and address of the owner of the motor vehicle and shall produce his certificate of insurance and any person contravening the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
(2) In any case where owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a highway an accident occurs involving bodily injury to any person the driver of the motor vehicle shall produce his certificate of insurance to a police officer or to any person having reasonable grounds for requiring its production and if any such driver for any reason fails so to produce his certificate of insurance he shall so soon as possible, and in any case within twenty-four hours of the occurrence, report the accident and produce his certificate of insurance to the police station nearest to the scene of the accident or to the nearest administrative officer and any person contravening the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
No. 55 of 1952
(3) The provisions of this section shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of section 23 of the Road Traffic Ordinance, 1952.
(4) In this section "to produce a certificate of insurance" means to produce for examination the relevant certificate of insurance or certificate of security or such other evidence as may be prescribed that the motor vehicle was not being driven in contravention of the provisions of this Act
(5) In this section "police officer" includes a member of the Ghana Police Force, a member of a police force established and maintained by a local authority, and an administrative officer.
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Where a sum is deposited by any person under the provisions of section 5 or as a condition of approval by the Minister under the provisions of section 6 or section 7 neither that sum nor any part thereof shall, so long as any liability being a liability required to be covered by a policy of insurance under this Act which has been incurred by such person remains undischarged or otherwise unprovided for, be applicable in discharge of any other liabilities incurred by such person.
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(1) If any person for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of insurance or a certificate of security under the provisions of this Act makes any statement either oral or written which is false or misleading or withholds any material information such person shall, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the Court that he acted without any intent to deceive, be guilty of an offence against this Act and be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds or to imprisonment for two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) Any person who with intent to deceive -
(a) forges, alters, defaces or mutilates any certificate of insurance or certificate of security or any other certificate or document issued under this Act; or
(b) uses or allows to be used by any other person any forged, altered, defaced or mutilated certificate of insurance or certificate of security or any other certificate or document issued under this Act; or
(c) lends to or borrows from any other person a certificate of insurance or a certificate of security or any other certificate or document issued under the provisions of this Act; or
(d) makes or has in his possession any document so closely resembling any certificate or document issued under the provisions of this Act as to be calculated to deceive; or
(e) issues any certificate of insurance or certificate of security or other certificate or document to be issued under the provisions of this Act,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction, to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds or to imprisonment for two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(3) If any police officer has reasonable cause to believe that any certificate of insurance or certificate of security or any other certificate or document produced to him in pursuance of the provisions of this Act by the driver or owner of a motor vehicle is a document in relation to which an offence under this section has been committed he may seize the document and when any such document is so seized the driver and the owner of such motor vehicle or either of them shall, if neither of them has been charged with an offence under the provisions of this section, be summoned before a magistrate to account for the possession of or the presence on the motor vehicle of the said document and the magistrate may make such order respecting the disposal of the document and award such costs as he may deem just.
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(1) The provisions of this Act shall apply in relation to securities or to cash deposits and any certificate or document issued in respect thereof, issued or made in accordance with the provisions of this Act as such provisions apply in relation to policies of insurance and in relation to any such security or cash deposit and any certificate or document issued in respect thereof and references in this Act to being insured, to a certificate of insurance, to an insurer and to persons insured shall be construed as references to the having in force of the security or of the cash deposit, to the certificate of security or other certificate or document issued in respect of a cash deposit, to the giver of the security or the person making the cash deposit and to the persons whose liability is covered by the security or the cash deposit.
(2) In this Act references to a certificate of insurance in any provisions relating to the surrender or loss or destruction of a certificate shall, in relation to policies under which more than one certificate is issued be construed as references to all or any of such certificates and shall, where any copy of a certificate has been issued, be construed as including a reference to such copy.
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Any person who is guilty of an offence against this Act for which no special penalty is provided shall, on conviction, be liable in respect of a first conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or six months imprisonment or to both such fine and imprisonment and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction to a fine of one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.
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The Governor-General may make regulations for prescribing everything which may be prescribed under the provisions of this Act and generally for the purpose of putting this Act into effect and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions may make regulations-
(a) prescribing the forms to be used for the purposes of this Act;
(b) declaring approved insurers;
(c) prescribing the requirements in relation to securities either generally or in particular case;
(d) as to application for and the issue of certificates of insurance and any other documents which may be prescribed and as to the keeping of records of documents and the furnishing of particulars thereof and the giving of information with respect thereto;
(e) as to the issue of copies of any certificates or documents which are lost, mutilated or destroyed
(f) as to the custody, production, cancellation and surrender of any such certificates or other documents;
(g) for providing that any of the provisions of this Act shall, in relation to motor vehicles brought into Ghana by persons making only a temporary stay in Ghana, have effect subject to such modifications and adaptations as may be prescribed;
(h) with respect to the payment of deposits and the documents to be issued in relation thereto and the investments thereof and dealing with the deposit of stocks or other securities in lieu of money, the payment of the interest or dividends from time to time accruing due on any securities in which deposits may be for the time invested and the withdrawal and transfer of deposits;
(i) prescribing fees to be charged in respect of anything done under the provisions of this Act;
(j) prescribing penalties for the breach of any regulations made hereunder not exceeding a fine of two hundred pounds or imprisonment for two years or both such fine and imprisonment.
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