Uninsured drivers face crackdown
Discussion
About time too!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3552586.stm
Tough measures to tackle an estimated one million uninsured UK drivers will be unveiled on Wednesday.
Uninsured drivers should face their car being crushed, larger fines or jail, a government-inspired report will say.
In addition, the report will call on insurers and government agencies to share more data to help police catch uninsured drivers.
Accidents involving uninsured drivers cost £500m a year, adding £30 to average motor premiums.
Unsafe
I felt like I was being punished because the other driver didn't have insurance
Crash cost Ms Mongia £4,000
Professor David Greenaway, of Nottingham University, was asked by the government in 2003 to look at uninsured driving in the UK.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has estimated that one in 20 UK motorists drive uninsured.
In addition, recent research from the insurance industry body estimated that one in seven UK motorists have driven uninsured in the past.
The Greenaway report concludes that uninsured motorists are many times more likely to have been convicted of a drink-driving offence or driving an unsafe vehicle.
It calls for harsher punishments for the uninsured and measures to improve detection.
Crush
The Department for Transport (DFT) announced prior to publication of the report that it would be giving police the power to seize and, where appropriate, crush vehicles that are being driven by uninsured drivers.
Pilot schemes operating in Cumbria and Liverpool have seen police confiscating and crushing hundreds of vehicles owned by uninsured drivers.
"We plan to give the police the power to seize and destroy vehicles that are being driven illegally and to increase police powers to use new technology to make detection and enforcement more effective," said David Jamieson, road safety minister.
"The message to the small hard core of anti-social motorists who drive without insurance is clear: uninsured driving is unacceptable."
In addition, the report recommends that repeat offenders should face jail and that average fines need to be increased.
According to the ABI, the average fine for driving without insurance is £150.
A DFT spokesman told BBC News Online that larger fines and custodial sentences would act to deter those motorists who believe the present punishment regime represents a cheaper option than actually paying for insurance.
Detection
We need to ensure that anyone who drives understands that they have the means of inflicting serious injury - and that insurance is there to protect other people as well as themselves
Mary Francis, Association of British Insurers
At present, uninsured drivers are usually detected only when they are physically stopped by the police.
Professor Greenaway would like to see the greater use of technology to detect uninsured motorists.
The report recommends that the databases of insurers and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) should be linked.
Drivers who fail to renew their insurance could receive a fixed penalty through the post.
A similar scheme operating in Sweden has helped deter uninsured driving.
In addition, numberplate recognition technology could be used to track down uninsured drivers.
Motoring groups and insurers welcomed the findings of the Greenaway report.
"They will benefit honest motorists and improve safety on our roads," said Mary Francis, director general of the ABI.
"We need to ensure that anyone who drives understands that they have the means of inflicting serious injury - and that insurance is there to protect other people as well as themselves."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3552586.stm
Tough measures to tackle an estimated one million uninsured UK drivers will be unveiled on Wednesday.
Uninsured drivers should face their car being crushed, larger fines or jail, a government-inspired report will say.
In addition, the report will call on insurers and government agencies to share more data to help police catch uninsured drivers.
Accidents involving uninsured drivers cost £500m a year, adding £30 to average motor premiums.
Unsafe
I felt like I was being punished because the other driver didn't have insurance
Crash cost Ms Mongia £4,000
Professor David Greenaway, of Nottingham University, was asked by the government in 2003 to look at uninsured driving in the UK.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has estimated that one in 20 UK motorists drive uninsured.
In addition, recent research from the insurance industry body estimated that one in seven UK motorists have driven uninsured in the past.
The Greenaway report concludes that uninsured motorists are many times more likely to have been convicted of a drink-driving offence or driving an unsafe vehicle.
It calls for harsher punishments for the uninsured and measures to improve detection.
Crush
The Department for Transport (DFT) announced prior to publication of the report that it would be giving police the power to seize and, where appropriate, crush vehicles that are being driven by uninsured drivers.
Pilot schemes operating in Cumbria and Liverpool have seen police confiscating and crushing hundreds of vehicles owned by uninsured drivers.
"We plan to give the police the power to seize and destroy vehicles that are being driven illegally and to increase police powers to use new technology to make detection and enforcement more effective," said David Jamieson, road safety minister.
"The message to the small hard core of anti-social motorists who drive without insurance is clear: uninsured driving is unacceptable."
In addition, the report recommends that repeat offenders should face jail and that average fines need to be increased.
According to the ABI, the average fine for driving without insurance is £150.
A DFT spokesman told BBC News Online that larger fines and custodial sentences would act to deter those motorists who believe the present punishment regime represents a cheaper option than actually paying for insurance.
Detection
We need to ensure that anyone who drives understands that they have the means of inflicting serious injury - and that insurance is there to protect other people as well as themselves
Mary Francis, Association of British Insurers
At present, uninsured drivers are usually detected only when they are physically stopped by the police.
Professor Greenaway would like to see the greater use of technology to detect uninsured motorists.
The report recommends that the databases of insurers and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) should be linked.
Drivers who fail to renew their insurance could receive a fixed penalty through the post.
A similar scheme operating in Sweden has helped deter uninsured driving.
In addition, numberplate recognition technology could be used to track down uninsured drivers.
Motoring groups and insurers welcomed the findings of the Greenaway report.
"They will benefit honest motorists and improve safety on our roads," said Mary Francis, director general of the ABI.
"We need to ensure that anyone who drives understands that they have the means of inflicting serious injury - and that insurance is there to protect other people as well as themselves."
philthy said:
I've got a better idea. Instead of crushing these cars, why don't they sell them at auction, and any money made go to a central fund for drivers hit by someone without insurance. Chavs lose their car, victim gets some sort of compensation.
Phil
Was thinking the same thing - and the fines too.
Iain
cptsideways said:
Surely all the uninsured's need to to is drive around in even cheaper snotters than before?
That's what I thought too, but at least the fines are going to go up.
The reason so many people are driving with no insurance is because Joe Public (as well as Joe Scrote) has cottoned on to the fact that the chances of getting caught are minimal and if you do then you'll typically have to only pay up about a quarter of what it costs to insure an average car anyway.
d-man said:
You can increase the punishment all you like, but if there is no risk of being caught, whats the point?
As usual, the automated detection they're proposing won't catch anyone that wants to avoid detection.
There again with ANPR gaining popularity hopefully its will be a start.
I am seeing ANPR vans everywhere now. Makes a nice change to seeing Scumera partnership vans everywhere
A good idea would be a system where the insurance company sent basic policy details to the central data base (include MOT if u like).
Plod then have random checks, stopping 100's of cars at a time and radioing through car particulars.
No insurance etc, you are arrested on the spot and ur car removed. It is up to all drivers to ensure their details are on the central database via online query just like HPI.
Problem solved
Plod then have random checks, stopping 100's of cars at a time and radioing through car particulars.
No insurance etc, you are arrested on the spot and ur car removed. It is up to all drivers to ensure their details are on the central database via online query just like HPI.
Problem solved
the billions that the government already make from petrol could cover it - if the tax was effectively ploughed back into transport.
Just have tax, insurance and MOT on display in the car. Advertise the fact and encourage people to shop those without the stickers to the old bill. OR invest in more automated recognition systems rather than speed cameras.
Just have tax, insurance and MOT on display in the car. Advertise the fact and encourage people to shop those without the stickers to the old bill. OR invest in more automated recognition systems rather than speed cameras.
cliffe_mafia said:
I read somewhre that in some countries 3rd party insurance is added to the price of petrol so everyone is insured.
Isn't that done in Australia?
cliffe_mafia said:
Seems like a good idea ???
Sure does to me.
Another solution would be to go completely in the opposite direction and remove the requirement for third party insurance altogether, making the "standard" insurance policy first-party-only - so whether a collision is covered by insurance depends only on whether you've insured yourself, not on the proportion of other people who have been successfully coerced into getting insurance.
cliffe_mafia said:
I read somewhre that in some countries 3rd party insurance is added to the price of petrol so everyone is insured.
Seems like a good idea ???
Damn right. Heard this on the radio today - put road fund duty and third party insurance on the cost of petrol. Saves the country billions and everyone who drives is insured third party.
The more you drive the more you pay.
The more you "damage the environment", the more you pay.
Simple and sensible? yeah.
Chances of becoming Government policy = zero.
I agree that "something must be done" about uninsured drivers. I'm just a bit worried about the idea of "linking databases" and routinely giving the police more access to more data.
What's to say that the next step won't be to link to your bank account database to extract the speeding fines at the time you pass the camera, and insert points on your licence directly to the DVLA database. Just think, you pass an ANPR van only to find you were disqualified at the last camera and you're pulled over.
Far-fetched, but the more databases are "linked" and routinely accessed by police, the more information will be available to use against us. With the increased scope for erroneous data to be joined together (NI no, surname, DSS no, etc) leading to invalid conclusions, everyone will be at greater risk of invalid prosecution. Then try claiming "innocent till proved guilty".
What's to say that the next step won't be to link to your bank account database to extract the speeding fines at the time you pass the camera, and insert points on your licence directly to the DVLA database. Just think, you pass an ANPR van only to find you were disqualified at the last camera and you're pulled over.
Far-fetched, but the more databases are "linked" and routinely accessed by police, the more information will be available to use against us. With the increased scope for erroneous data to be joined together (NI no, surname, DSS no, etc) leading to invalid conclusions, everyone will be at greater risk of invalid prosecution. Then try claiming "innocent till proved guilty".
Peter Ward said:
I agree that "something must be done" about uninsured drivers. I'm just a bit worried about the idea of "linking databases" and routinely giving the police more access to more data.
What's to say that the next step won't be to link to your bank account database to extract the speeding fines at the time you pass the camera, and insert points on your licence directly to the DVLA database. Just think, you pass an ANPR van only to find you were disqualified at the last camera and you're pulled over.
Far-fetched, but the more databases are "linked" and routinely accessed by police, the more information will be available to use against us. With the increased scope for erroneous data to be joined together (NI no, surname, DSS no, etc) leading to invalid conclusions, everyone will be at greater risk of invalid prosecution. Then try claiming "innocent till proved guilty".
I just don't like the idea that, once the ball gets rolling, the government can draft any law they want, and legally remove your property from your ownership.
MoJo.
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