Friday 15th August 2008

Deaths By Uninsured Drivers Up A Third

Uninsured drivers killing more but face softer penalties

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Deaths caused by uninsured drivers have risen by almost a third in six years while offenders have been facing softer penalties, it has been revealed. Average fines for driving without insurance have dropped by 17% since 1997, from £224 to £185, according to figures seen by The Times newspaper.

Meanwhile uninsured drivers are killing more people than ever before - four a week. The Government is attempting to crack down on reckless driving and uninsured drivers. Laws that came into force on Monday mean that motorists who cause death while driving uninsured, disqualified or unlicenced will merit a maximum of two years in prison.

MPs and road safety experts have said that the measures are too little and point to a new study which found that 208 people died in accidents caused by uninsured drivers in 2006, compared with 160 in 2000. This was the first year that accurate figures were available.

Accidents caused by uninsured drivers cost £500million a year in insurance claims and add around £30 each to the policies of insured drivers, according to experts. Only 263,000 uninsured drivers were convicted in magistrates' courts in 2006, compared with 255,000 in 1997, the new study found.

Mark Hunter, transport spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: 'It beggars belief that penalties for uninsured drivers have become more lenient on this Government's watch.Uninsured drivers are a dangerous and often fatal blight on our roads and responsible motorists are forking out for higher premiums to pay for their misadventures. It is ridiculous that, while you can be fined £1,000 for not buying a TV licence, uninsured drivers can cause thousands of pounds of damage and get away with pathetically small penalties.'

[rikky]

it's a joke. if you kill someone you should go to jail regardless of how you kill someone

we need a serious government shake-up before or everyone's going to move to Australia

is anything going to change? ever? is anyone listening or are there a bunch of people sat around a desk somewhere in nice smart suits thinking "well, something's not right here, let's change things once and for all" or can't anyone see any problems with society?

Edited by rikky on Friday 15th August 12:03

[stuart-b]

Agreed, I think it's terrible.

But... due to a mix up with my insurance company who sent a cancellation notice - which didn't make it through the post, I was uninsured for a day without realising! What if I had had a non fault accident, killed someone, and then found out I wasn't insured? I could face years in prison.

[rikky]

i also have 6 points for driving uninsured through insurance company mix-up. i got 6 points and a £200 fine [after a court battle!]

[carmats]

uninsured drivers are pricks. I pay just shy of a grand for my insurance being 20 and i bet its alot more than £30 thats added to my premium as a result.

[Mr Whippy]

What do we expect with robot camera police rather than real Trafpol?

Imagine those 200 deaths were caused by drivers that otherwise wouldn't/shouldn't have been on the road.

Nice to see the government prefer to pretend to do the safety thing, while raking it in on savings not doing a proper job, than give us something back for our huge levels of taxation on road transport.

Cocks!

Dave

[rikky]

i have also noticed [unrelated to insurance but..] that they have started road resurfacing but only doing a minimum layer of 'tarmac' now which is about 85% gravel and is rough as anything, thus leaving twice the mess, stloads of white dust and chipping everywhere, presumable so cut the spending by 90%

as Dave says it makes you wonder where our money is going. i tell you where it's going, we're paying for them massive banquets and buffets all these MP's have where they sit about in suits discussing st that doesn't matter whatsoever and turning blind eyes to the things people actually care about. is there just like one bloke somewhere who is just putting these bits of note paper about all these issues under his happy meal?

ah, i know who it is

Edited by rikky on Friday 15th August 12:07

[julianc]

Typical. And I bet these 200 deaths are included in the government's statistics for pushing forward still more scumeras.

More trafpol is what we need to get the uninsured off the roads.

[rikky]

carmats said:

uninsured drivers are pricks. I pay just shy of a grand for my insurance being 20 and i bet its alot more than £30 thats added to my premium as a result.

i would kill for my insurance to be a grand. it's cheaper to drive about without insurance, tax or mot and take the risk of being pulled purely to get fined the £200 it would seem. makes me laugh when i temporarily insure cars to move them about and i think to myself [after making the premium pamynet on DayInsure.com] that i have just wasted my money.

i would like to be the PM for a day, or atleast someone who could sneak a few rules into play.

[Snoggledog]

article said:

Laws that came into force on Monday mean that motorists who cause death while driving uninsured, disqualified or unlicenced will merit a maximum of two years in prison.

2 years??? Is that it??? Come on surely that should be at the barest minimum a manslaughter charge.

[plasticpig]

rikky said:

it's a joke. if you kill someone you should go to jail regardless of how you kill someone

Edited by rikky on Friday 15th August 12:03

So if someone jumps out from the pavement right in front of your car and you hit and kill them you should go to jail? You are involved in a head on collision on the motorway because some idiot is traveling the along the wrong carriageway you should go to jail?

[rikky]

fair point.

i mean things that are avoidable. like knifing someone in the street. like killing someone when you are driving a car that you should not have been driving due to not being insured in the first place. even when people are getting sentences anyway they're being cut by 90% anyway and getting away to do the same thing again. i know people who drive about without insurance all the time and never get caught or people who let people drive their car, knowing they are uninsured on it, and the cops won't do a thing

i have hit people in my car and one quite seriously and it's not nice, and i went to the cops about it. if i had no insurance and did it i should have been put in jail for good. we need some of these nice laws they have abroad

Edited by rikky on Friday 15th August 12:31

[DamoLLb]

Snoggledog said:

article said:

Laws that came into force on Monday mean that motorists who cause death while driving uninsured, disqualified or unlicenced will merit a maximum of two years in prison.

2 years??? Is that it??? Come on surely that should be at the barest minimum a manslaughter charge.

How can it be manslaughter? the lack of insurance doesn't contrabute to the death any more then someone with valid insurance. Rather then overlapping current legislation just impose a higer custodial sentance for falure to have insurance in the first place!

[rikky]

DamoLLb said:

just impose a higer custodial sentance for falure to have insurance in the first place!

[Tahiti]

Taking aside the deaths, the fines for driving uninsured are pointless! It's just encouraging uninsured drivers when you'd have to pay 5 times the average fine just to insure the average car at age 17!!

[Snoggledog]

DamoLLb said:

Snoggledog said:

article said:

Laws that came into force on Monday mean that motorists who cause death while driving uninsured, disqualified or unlicenced will merit a maximum of two years in prison.

2 years??? Is that it??? Come on surely that should be at the barest minimum a manslaughter charge.

How can it be manslaughter? the lack of insurance doesn't contrabute to the death any more then someone with valid insurance. Rather then overlapping current legislation just impose a higer custodial sentance for falure to have insurance in the first place!

Ok.. You have a valid point. But.. but. but... Oh sod it.. You're right.

[stackmonkey]

So while costs to insure have gone up,

1) the number of uninsured drivers has gone up,
2) these uninsured drivers are having more accidents, and killing more people in the process

but yet

1) the number of drivers convicted of driving uninsured has gone down,
2) the average fine has gone down, despite 10years of inflation.

[phylet]

£185 fine for no insurance? i could drive for ten years, get caught once and be level. If only i had the balls!

[XTR2Turbo]

Surely there must be a way of closing all this tax and insurance loophole down.

My vote would be scrap Car Tax and add it to fuel costs.

For Insurance I would privatise detection out to one of these car clamping type firms. Put them on commission and I'm sure the detection rate would go up.

David

[phylet]

XTR2Turbo said:

Surely there must be a way of closing all this tax and insurance loophole down.

My vote would be scrap Car Tax and add it to fuel costs.

For Insurance I would privatise detection out to one of these car clamping type firms. Put them on commission and I'm sure the detection rate would go up.

David

Do the government not already collect something to the tune of six times more tax in regards to cars as they spend on the roads?

[timewatch]

Under new rules coming into force next week you can go to jail for changing your radio and if this leads to an accident.

But Fk'ALL for un-insured - c'mon get your priorities right.

This is what I have come to expect form this government, TOTAL MIS-MANAGEMENT !

TW>>>