Whiplash claims are a common feature of most car accident claims these days, and has been for some time. Around 80% of all car accident claims where someone was injured involve people suffering whiplash. New research may suggest that many of these claims may be exaggerated or downright fraudulent.

Whiplash costs the UK insurance industry more than £1.5bn annually and affects a quarter of a million people every year, 10% of whom are left with permanent disabilities.

Ecclesiastical Insurance has taken upon itself the responsibility of formulating a new research project that aims to provide a more in-depth study of whiplash accidents and separate the real injuries from the exaggerated or false ones. The company is aiming to introduce sophisticated motion analysis which can pinpoint muscles placed under strain after an accident. This is aimed to cut the number of personal injury compensation claims, lead to better working conditions and of course detect fraudulent whiplash claims.

Whiplash has been an area rife with people attempting to manipulate the medical uncertainty of the injury to gain a payout. Whiplash in particular does not always come up on an X-ray and although there may no immediate evidence of an injury, the debilitating problems it is known for can resurface later with a vengeance.

The research in question will cost in the region of £500,000 but is aimed at reducing millions by way of spurious claims and false payouts. The research is also attempting to combat the more cunning side of fraudsters whereby criminal gangs deliberately set up a road smash, then claim for whiplash and damage to the vehicle, backed up by ‘witnesses’, who are really on the job working for the gang.

Research cannot help all cases, however, especially when drivers themselves are not taking enough precautions. Thatcham, the motor industry’s research centre, recently discovered through research that motorists are continually not adjusting their headrests properly or positioning them correctly.

The main objective of any kind of research is to shed light on ascertaining when a legitimate whiplash injury has in fact occurred. In 2007, the Association of British Insurers announced it had formulated a new instrument which aimed to help insurers identify people with potentially chronic whiplash neck injuries more quickly to ensure they receive the best medical care as soon as possible.

It is this time span that can make an injury much worse even when, in the first instance, it appears nothing has happened besides the niggling stiffness in the neck. In some rare cases a whiplash neck injury can lead to significant long-term problems such as disabling pain and depression. The mental pains of an injury, it seems, cannot be measured by any new tool or research it seems and therein lies another challenge for the insurance industry.