Bring on the Clampdown

By David John Martin

The method proposed to uncover those individuals who are driving uninsured sees police being given new capabilities in order to match insurance industry data against records held by the DVLA. Consequently, if an uninsured car is identified, the owner is then sent a warning letter and if no action is carried out a £100 fine is issued, along with the possibility that the car could be seized before being taken to the local scrap-yard and crushed.

This seems like an excellent idea to me. I have been in an accident with an uninsured driver before, and know firsthand what an annoyance it can be. However, critics have identified that cross-checking will not catch all uninsured persons, and indeed my personal experience exemplifies this notion. It is true that just because many vehicles may well be insured (and show up as legal), it may still be possible that the driver is breaking the law; and those annoying folks seem far more difficult to catch.

However, The Department of Transport is seemingly confident that this clampdown can only do good, claiming that insurers will save £764 million if the number of uninsured drivers was cut by just a third. Whilst Ruth Kelly warned that 'these tough new powers will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide.' And The Observer also reports that an average £30 is added to the premium of each responsible driver every year. Besides, what better time to be saving than at a time like this.

In truth, until this report came out I was unaware of the statistics concerning the number of drivers without car insurance, and particularly the amount of money they cost the rest of us year on year. In the United States however, two years ago the IRC estimated that a huge 14 per cent of drivers were uninsured. Consequently, this year in Texas, a similar system involving database cross-checking will be brought in also, and if you're caught out a $350 fine will be issued; with a licence suspension being the eventuality for repeat offenders. It will certainly be interesting to see the difference these two slightly different methods will make, and thus the future of the schemes can be tweaked accordingly.

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