Insurance payouts for people injured on the roads have been tripled after getting full Senate approval yesterday.

The Motor Car Insurance (Third Party Risks) and Public Carriage Amendment Act 2022 was brought by the Reverend Emily Gail Dill, the junior minister for transport, who was sitting in her first Senate session.

It will hike insurer liability from $125,000 for a claim to a new limit of $375,000.

John Wight, independent senator and chief executive at the insurer BF&M, said he was “fully supportive”.

“This obviously is a positive step for both parties in an accident,” he said, calling it “a win-win”.

Dr Dill said the Motor Insurance Fund has been created in 1990 to “compensate victims of uninsured or untraceable drivers”.

But she noted that the plaintiff’s costs in recent court case for a man injured by “a driver under the influence“ had topped $700,00.

“This case is not isolated,” Dr Dill told the Senate, with victims’ medical bills potentially including an air ambulance, overseas medical care and lost earning.

Marcus Jones, the Acting Opposition Leader in the Senate, called it a “commonsense amendment” that had the One Bermuda Alliance’s support.