'NO PLACE FOR SUCH DRIVERS TO HIDE'

January 22, 2009

Ever been in an accident where the other car wasn't insured? Not much you can do about it, is there?

Then you'll be pleased to hear that in Britain, where motor vehicle insurance is compulsory, road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick (why doesn't South Africa have a minister of road safety?) is pushing through tough legislation to tackle UK drivers who don't insure their cars – and cost the law-abiding majority the equivalent of about R5.6-billion a year in extra premiums.

The new measures will make it an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle – never mind actually driving it! - making it easier to catch uninsured drivers and keep them off the roads.

Fitzpatrick said: "The selfish minority of drivers who refuse to insure their cars push up premiums for other motorists and kill or injure thousands of people each year.

"Increased police powers already mean more than 400 uninsured vehicles are impounded each day but these tough new measures will leave uninsured drivers with nowhere to hide."

Under the new system the department of vehicle licensing will work in partnership with the insurance industry 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 insure it within a set period. If the keeper fails to insure the vehicle they will be fined £100 (about R1400).

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

Uninsured driving adds about R420 a year to every driver's insurance premium. It's also estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23 000 in the UK each year.

The British government has already given the police powers to impound and destroy vehicles being driven uninsured and access to the motor insurance database to improve their ability to spot uninsured vehicles by using automatic number plate recognition scanners.

Police impounded about 150 000 vehicles in 2007 - more than 400 a day.

TWO-MILLION UNINSURED

A new offence of of causing death by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured was introduced in 2008.

UK police estimate that 6.5 percent (about two million) UK drivers aren't insured and they prosecute about 300 000 of them each year.

Now wouldn't it be nice if every skedonk on South Africa's roads had to be insured – and the cops impounded them if they weren't?