Jānis more often than Līga gets himself into different accidents and the insurance indemnities, disbursed to him, are much higher based on the data of the last year – an inference drawn by specialists of BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA).

During the holidays, Līga suffers from different private accidents much less often. She suffers injuries while jumping over the bonfire or looking for the blooming fern. Last year 15 representatives of the fair sex claimed insurance indemnities on various accidents and the largest disbursement reached 312 euros. While men submitted 153 insurance indemnity claims for private accidents, whereupon the largest disbursement amounted to 2601 euros.

The data on Travel insurance is quite similar. Līga had less trouble with suitcases, lost personal identity documents or missed flights. Seven Līgas claimed Travel insurance indemnities. The largest indemnity amounted to 383 euros. The largest sum disbursed to one of the 35 men having submitted a claim amounted to 1384 euros.

Jānis is sevenfold more reckless than Līga. Perhaps, Jānis cares to take Līga and his other friends for a ride, but kind of crosses the line, which gets him into unforeseen accidents on the road. It is acknowledged by the summary of disbursements upon insurance indemnity claims within MTPL and KASKO. Last year, there were 139 MTPL and 235 KASKO claims made by men, while women submitted 16 and 35 claims respectively. The largest sum disbursed to Jānis upon MTPL accident amounted to 8050 euros, while another Jānis received an indemnity disbursement within KASKO insurance amounting to 6606 euros. One of Līgas received a disbursement upon MTPL insurance indemnity claim, which is twofold less than Jānis did – 4049 euros, while receiving 4066 euros for KASKO accident.

BTA encourages being careful during Līgo festival and protecting yourself from any private accidents both when driving a vehicle and when stoking the bonfires and relaxing on the waterfront or setting of for a travel afar or nearby.

“One should keep in mind that when you are in a state of alcoholic intoxication, you must not neither drive a car, nor swim or light a bonfire”, reminds BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department director Kārlis Liepiņš.

Jumping headlong into the waters in unfamiliar ponds and leaving your children unsupervised close to water is also very dangerous. Few are aware that when your child is in the water below his waistline, you should keep a continuous eye contact with them.

Specialists of State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS, LV – VUGD) also encourage avoiding overrating one’s capacities: boasting that you can swim far out or swim across the river is not worth risking your life. Moreover, if during the previous season you were able to swim across the river, it does not mean that physical training will allow for doing the same this year.

To make Jāņi festival bonfire not only beautiful, but also safe, participants should take care of it themselves. First, they should choose a place, where setting up of a bonfire is not restricted. Then, they should make sure that there is no dry grass or trees nearby, or no easy flammable objects. The location for a bonfire requires avoiding the spread of fire (the place around the bonfire should be surrounded by rocks or some soil). Adults only are allowed to light a bonfire.

You should keep an eye on the bonfire even if everything seems safe – it should not be left unattended even for a moment! Likewise, no plastic and rubber objects should be thrown into the fire; it might cause pungent smoke, which might lead to poisoning.

“Carelessness and leaving the fire unattended are the most frequent reasons of fire accidents”, points out senior specialist of State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), Sandra Vējiņa. If the accident has already occurred and emergency service aid is required, you should call 112. Do not rely on someone else to call the rescuers. Misfortunately, SFRS have experienced accidents, when emergency service aid is desperately needed, however, nobody called them.

You would better also go easy on alcoholic beverages and avoid driving a vehicle intoxicated to celebrate Līgo safely. Same as every year, this year as well Road Traffic Safety Directorate (RTSD, LV – CSDD) launched a campaign before Līgo festival, encouraging residents to get enough sleep before driving a car after the festival.

RTSD survey on the attitude of residents of Latvia towards drunk driving testifies that there is almost one-third of respondents, who would stop a person from driving a car, even the person had a small amount of alcohol. Half of the respondents would not allow a person, who had two glasses of wine or beer, to drive a vehicle. However, there is a disturbing fact that every fifth driver considers that a drunk person is able to establish him/herself if he/she may or may not drive.

BTA encourages protecting yourself and your loved ones, to stay rational and to have a fun, though safe and sound celebration of the Summer Solstice.

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 25 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is the clear market leader in its CEE markets. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.

Additional information:

Elīna Rasmane

Marketing and Public Relations Department Director

BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS

e-mail elina.rasmane@bta.lv