The AA claims that a move to make displaying insurance discs in car windscreens compulsory will do little to solve the issue of uninsured cars on the road.
The AA claims that calls for the compulsory display of insurance discs in car windscreens are misguided and will do nothing to tackle the growing problem of uninsured drivers. This is despite a private members' Bill being placed through parliament to introduce insurance discs.
AA Insurance director Neale Phillips said: "Despite having compulsory tax discs, we still have 1.4 million untaxed cars on our roads. So there is little reason to think that insurance discs will deter the 1.25 million uninsured drivers either.
"In the UK, which has one of the best road safety records in the world, it is the driver who is insured, not the vehicle, so premiums take account of the driver's experience and driving record.
"If we were to base insurance on the car alone, as would be suggested by the introduction of insurance discs, careful drivers may end up subsidising the young and inexperienced."
While the organisation welcomed government proposals to bring uninsured driving within the fixed penalty system, it believed it must be linked to increased fines and "perhaps confiscation of the vehicle for repeat offenders".
At the moment uninsured drivers cost every law-abiding driver an additional £30 on their insurance premium - within the fixed penalty system
Phillips continued: "Most uninsured drivers could readily be identified by the police - and other enforcement agencies - simply by checking a vehicle registration mark against the Motor Insurance Database (MID).
"But the present enforcement system is cumbersome and demands a huge amount of police time in preparing for costly and unsatisfactory court cases. A fixed penalty system would mean offenders could be dealt with on the spot."
