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Un-insured Driver Crackdown...


slimjim

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New powers to tackle uninsured driving will come into force within months, Road Safety Minister Mike Penning announced today.

 

Under the new powers it will be an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.

 

Currently every responsible motorist pays an average £30 each year within their premiums to cover crashes involving uninsured and untraced drivers. It is also estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year.

 

Mike Penning said:

 

"Uninsured drivers push up premiums for other motorists and often drive with no regard for other road users, so it is vital that we do everything we can to keep them off the roads.

 

“More than 400 uninsured vehicles are already being seized by the police every day but it is simply not possible to catch every uninsured driver in this way. That is why we are bringing in these new powers which will help us to take targeted action while freeing up police time to deal with the hard core of offenders.â€

 

Ashton West, Chief Executive at the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said:

 

“Today’s news marks a significant step forward in the fight against uninsured driving. This means that as enforcement can take place for both keeping and driving a vehicle without insurance there will be no place for illegal motorists to hide.

 

“Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) will complement and run alongside existing police roadside enforcement, which has already reduced uninsured driving by 20%.â€

 

Under the new system:

 

- The DVLA will work in partnership with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau to identify uninsured vehicles

 

- Motorists will receive a letter telling them that their vehicle appears to be uninsured and warning them that they will be fined unless they take action

 

- If the keeper fails to insure the vehicle they will be given a £100 fine

 

- If the vehicle remains uninsured - regardless of whether the fine is paid - it could then be seized and destroyed.

 

Vehicles with a valid Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) will not be required to be insured.

 

The Department for Transport today made the Commencement Order to make it an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle which does not have insurance, as well as regulations to support this. Further regulations will be made shortly, allowing the scheme to come into force in the Spring.

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Now all they need to do is make sure all those uninsured drivers have actually bothered to register the vehicle in their name and address in the first place, to make sure the fines go to the right place.

Isn't that the job of the seller of the car?

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Now all they need to do is make sure all those uninsured drivers have actually bothered to register the vehicle in their name and address in the first place, to make sure the fines go to the right place.

+1 bet there are loads out there with fake registration details. They should just go around streets in force and look up every car and if it doesnt have insurance and tax or SORN, take it away and crush it :#1:

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Totally agree with the idea but what about folks who have not so legal number plates they could get a bag on and say it didnt show up as they typed it in lets have it away. The government will hire a company who will probably be on commission and will take anything they can to make as much money over a short period as possible.

 

My car doesnt show up on normal DVLA or ANPR cameras as its registered through the ARmy only when you ring DVLA and speak to the armed forces desk does it show up on there records. Bit annoying when i get pulled over and see the smug look on the coppers face. But i always have the bigger smile when i prove them wrong.

 

Cracking idea the government ha set up and hope it gets used to the full potential though and may even reduce the insurance premiums if it works ok.

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Surely if people don't insure their cars all they will do is declare SORN and then still drive it. Surely thats the same risk for them as not insuring anyway. Only way they will get caught is if more police cars can detect its not insured or they are stopped for something else. Unless I have missed something really obvious to detect the car is SORN. :shrug:

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Now all they need to do is make sure all those uninsured drivers have actually bothered to register the vehicle in their name and address in the first place, to make sure the fines go to the right place.

Isn't that the job of the seller of the car?

 

Its the sellers job to send off the details yes. But how do they know if the details they are sending off are actually those of the person handing over the cash and driving the car away?

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I get really annoyed by the Police Stop type programmes. Long, dangerous chases and when caught the guy get a telling off, a ban ( very effective if he is already banned) and has to paint his local church for a while. :shrug:

 

Driving uminsured is premeditated most of the time, if you get caught the car should be crushed as a matter of course. I would love to know what percentage are though. :surrender:

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Its the sellers job to send off the details yes. But how do they know if the details they are sending off are actually those of the person handing over the cash and driving the car away?

I ALWAYS check drivers licence/insurance when I sell cars.

 

Firstly to be sure they are cool to test drive the motor... and secondly to be sure I can put the right details on the V5 :)

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Driving uminsured is premeditated most of the time, if you get caught the car should be crushed as a matter of course. I would love to know what percentage are though. :surrender:

See, I think we are missing a trick here...

 

In the states, they have police auctions and you can buy the cars/boats/houses etc taken from crime... Makes the force a LOAD of cash...

 

Why crush the car (Which costs money and time) when we can SELL them and get some cash back?

 

(Obviously "draw the line" at selling cocaine taken from dealers!)

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I have a relative who works for a DVLA contractor in North London they have eight vans equipt with numberplate recognision cameras on each corner of the roof every day they drive down side streets detecting untaxed and uninsured vehicles they even have the power now to remove cars on a house driveway it does not have to be parked in the road.

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Maybe I am a bit extreme, I think some makes of cars should be crushed anyway. :lol:

G-Whizz?! :thumbs:

 

If they are persistent offenders who drive around in a £50 car with no licence/tax/MOT/insurance/brain cells, then maybe leave them in the car when it's crushed? :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is a ridiculous law and does not tackle the problem. In the eyes of this law it would render law abiding people on the wrong side of the law. For example, this winter, my insurance was up at the start of December, rather than waste the money I didn't bother insuring it until the weather was better. My car was locked away, off the road in a garage. Not once was it driven until it was insured. People who drive uninsured cars don't usually have them registered in their own name. Well done to the shower of sh*t that are the DVLA for penalising the law abiding citizens of the UK and leaving the law breakers untouched.

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This is a ridiculous law and does not tackle the problem. In the eyes of this law it would render law abiding people on the wrong side of the law. For example, this winter, my insurance was up at the start of December, rather than waste the money I didn't bother insuring it until the weather was better. My car was locked away, off the road in a garage. Not once was it driven until it was insured. People who drive uninsured cars don't usually have them registered in their own name. Well done to the shower of sh*t that are the DVLA for penalising the law abiding citizens of the UK and leaving the law breakers untouched.

It's a good point... well made.

 

Not sure HOW we can sort it but SOMETHING needs to be done about it...

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This is a ridiculous law and does not tackle the problem. In the eyes of this law it would render law abiding people on the wrong side of the law. For example, this winter, my insurance was up at the start of December, rather than waste the money I didn't bother insuring it until the weather was better. My car was locked away, off the road in a garage. Not once was it driven until it was insured. People who drive uninsured cars don't usually have them registered in their own name. Well done to the shower of sh*t that are the DVLA for penalising the law abiding citizens of the UK and leaving the law breakers untouched.

SORN it then. You can do it online now so it's not like it takes an immense amount of effort to do it really.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure the DVLA should take any hits on this one as, useless as they can be at time, at least they're trying to do something.

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This is a ridiculous law and does not tackle the problem. In the eyes of this law it would render law abiding people on the wrong side of the law. For example, this winter, my insurance was up at the start of December, rather than waste the money I didn't bother insuring it until the weather was better. My car was locked away, off the road in a garage. Not once was it driven until it was insured. People who drive uninsured cars don't usually have them registered in their own name. Well done to the shower of sh*t that are the DVLA for penalising the law abiding citizens of the UK and leaving the law breakers untouched.

SORN it then. You can do it online now so it's not like it takes an immense amount of effort to do it really.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure the DVLA should take any hits on this one as, useless as they can be at time, at least they're trying to do something.

 

 

I have a major flaw with this plan...

 

Last year i owned a drift car which was road legal, and i kept it taxed, but not insured. I kept it on my driveway and only insured it for 1-day at a time when i had a drift day booked, at a cost for £25 for the day. I did 7 drift days last year...

 

Now with this plan, i have to either pay about £400 for insurance for the year, or declare it sorn, and try to tax it for 1 day a month, which im sure is not going to be possible...

 

There must be loads of other people with this type of situation too...

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