A new initiative to cut the numbers of uninsured drivers on Britain’s roads has been launched by ministers this week. It is hoped the plans will cut insurance premiums for other drivers by an average of £30 a year.
The small minority of motorists in the UK who don’t bother insuring their cars are involved in more than 23,000 serious car accidents and cause 160 fatalities on the roads every year. However at present a loophole in the law means police can only prosecute them if they are actually caught whilst they are driving. This week plans were unveiled to close this loophole with the creation of a new offence of keeping a car uninsured.
The new offence is linked to plans to allow the police to match insurance industry databases against DVLA records and identify cars which do not have insurance cover. These people will then receive letters warning them that if they do not take out an insurance policy, they will face £100 fine as well as having their vehicle seized and crushed – even if their vehicle is not on the road.
According to figures from the Department for Transport, even a 33% reduction in the number of uninsured drivers would save insurance companies £764million over five years, and those savings would be passed on to their customers in the form of cheaper car insurance. Around 2 million cars are thought to be driven uninsured and their rogue drivers are many times more likely than ordinary drivers to be convicted of drink driving, to drive a car that is unsafe and to be convicted of driving without due care and attention.
Here at Camps Solicitors several of our clients have been involved in road traffic accidents (RTA) where the driver at fault was uninsured. Fortunately we can help the victims of these types of car accidents to make compensation claims against the Motor Insurers Bureau, which has a fund set up to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers.
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Speak to one of our claims advisors about your claim.
