Public unaware of uninsured driving crackdown – AA

Some 59% of respondents to an AA/Populs survey had not heard of the Department for Transport’s new tougher uninsured driving legislations.

According to the results of the survey, which polled nearly 13,000 AA members, 38% of those who had heard of the new law “don’t know what it means”.

The Department for Transport announced yesterday that it had introduced the final version of its Continuous Insurance Enforcement legislation to Parliament.

Under the new legislation, it is an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, unless it is subject to a Statutory Off Road Notification. Currently, it is only an offence to drive an uninsured vehicle.

“This tough action is to be welcomed but it is vital that the government undertakes a campaign to increase awareness,” said AA insurance director Simon Douglas in a statement. “There are estimated to be about 1.4 million cars: about 1 out of every 25, being driven on Britain’s roads without insurance. This is a shocking indictment and one of the worst records in Europe. Any step that prevents uninsured drivers from getting behind the wheel in the first place must be worthwhile.”

According to the AA, uninsured and untraceable drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year, as well as causing millions of pounds worth of damage to other vehicles and property.

Douglas also called for harsher penalties for those caught driving without cover. “The maximum fine available to the courts is £5,000, yet the average meted out is only £200, considerably less than the cost of insuring a vehicle in the first place. Such small fines are ludicrous if you compare them with the £1,000 fine for not having a television license, for example.”