Politicians at Westminster listen to ABI
10 May 2005
Politicians at Westminster listen to ABI call for new legislation to drive illegal and dangerous motorists from the roads.
Politicians at Westminster listen to ABI call for new legislation to drive illegal and dangerous motorists from the roads.
Motorists driving illegally without insurance will face more effective on – the – road detection, and possible confiscation of their vehicles, under tough new legislation that has now been agreed by both Houses of Parliament. The UK has one of the highest levels of uninsured driving in Europe, with one in twenty motorists at any one time driving without insurance.
Under provisions in the new Serious Organised Crime Act (2005) the police will be given improved access to the industry’s Motor Insurance Database to help them detect uninsured drivers and will be given the power to seize, and in some circumstances, destroy vehicles being driven uninsured.
Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance, said:
“This new Act will be excellent news for honest motorists and all road users. We are pleased that the Government has seized the opportunity to act on what the industry has been calling for – better detection of and stiffer penalties for illegal and dangerous motorists who drive uninsured. The Act will send out a clear message: driving without insurance is a serious and dangerous crime, which the Government, in partnership with the insurance industry and the Police, is determined to reduce.”
There is strong public support for the new measures. ABI opinion research shows that:
• 85% of motorists see driving without insurance as a serious offence, and would welcome a clampdown
• 90% think that they are more likely to get caught for speeding than for driving uninsured
• A third of motorists believe that confiscation of the offender’s vehicle is seen as the most effective deterrent
The ABI is also urging all three main political parties to commit to bring in a new offence of “keeping a vehicle” without insurance’ early in the new Parliament. This new offence could improve road safety further and reduce the cost of uninsured driving by £100million by enabling the DVLA to systematically and cost – effectively target uninsured motorists. It would only apply to vehicles kept on the road without insurance, and would not apply to vehicles where the keeper has declared that it is being kept off road through a Statutory Off – Road Notification to the DVLA.
_____