New laws to crack down on uninsured drivers take effect today (20 June) with offenders facing the possibility of having their car destroyed (The Independent).
Under the new Continuous Insurance Enforcement law it is an offence to be a keeper of an uninsured vehicle rather than just driving while uninsured.
From today registered keepers identified as having an uninsured vehicle will be sent a letter telling them that their vehicle appears to be uninsured, and warning them of the consequences if they fail to take action.
Those who do not act on this warning – either by taking out insurance or declaring their vehicle off the road – will receive a £100 fine and could have their vehicle clamped, seized and destroyed. They may also face a court prosecution.
Mike Penning, road safety minister, said: "Anyone who receives a warning letter should take action immediately by getting insurance or contacting the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) to declare their vehicle off the road."
Ashton West, The Motor Insurers’ Bureau chief executive, said: "We know who the registered keepers are with vehicles that have no insurance and letters will be dropping on to their doormats from this week. It’s no longer a case of if you will get caught, but when you will get caught.
"An estimated 1.4 million drivers are flouting the law by driving without insurance. This is a serious offence and results in accidents that cause about 160 deaths each year and more than 23,000 people are injured by uninsured drivers. It also adds around £30 per year to honest drivers’ motor insurance policies."
Click here to read the full report from The Independent.
And how’s this law going to help?
If the driver of a stolen car kills someone, how’s this law supposed to prevent that?
These new laws rarely seem to have any evidence to back them up. If this law is to make any improvement we have to know how many deaths are caused by drivers who have registered their cars in their correct name and address and who have deliberately not purchased insurance. But this doesn’t appear to have been done.
Surely the real answer is far simpler. If the government were to purchase 3rd party insurance for ALL road users, and then put the cost of this onto fuel, then suddenly there are no uninsured drivers and there’s a huge freeing up of Police resources and court time.
I believe that the public would accept a small rise in fuel costs if they saw the benefits of this, and environmentalists would surely support any increase in fossil fuel costs?
Dave Finney – Slough
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I think you’re missing the point here and it’s “160 deaths each year and more than 23,000 people are injured by uninsured drivers” this not by the person that forgot to do it before they went on holiday. And I would gladly give an insurance company £30 to pay towards cost of burial or assistance to those family’s affected.
Anthony
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Weren’t we led to believe that “the war against the motorist” was over?
So is it now illegal to go on holiday if we forget that the insurance runs out whilst our cars are in our garages?
And, if the authorities mistakenly believe we have not renewed our insurance, we will be guilty unless we can prove we are innocent.
Yet another example of a law that totally reverses what British justice is supposed to be.
Dave Finney, Slough
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So does this mean when all the un-insured cars are either insured or destroyed our premiums will go down? I doubt it very much they will just think of another excuse as to why premiums are going up.
Supplied
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