Number Plates News

A New Approach Needed to Counter Motor Insurance Crime

06 October 2009

It has been estimated that there are currently 1.7 million uninsured drivers on our roads, with the Barkerend area of Bradford named as the uninsured driving capital where nearly half of all motorists are flouting the law.

The government's response to the problem is, predictably, to introduce even more legislation: New measures are proposed which will make it an offence to 'keep an uninsured vehicle'. Quite how this squares with the basic premise that it is the driver who should be insured, is not clear, but this is clearly academic anyway, given the current state of affairs.

Number plate recognition cameras may be capable of spotting around 500 uninsured vehicles every day, but how many of the culprits are ever traced? The system is simply not working and in dire need of a complete rethink.

It has long been suggested that road tax be recouped through the petrol pumps by way of a fuel price supplement. Whilst this represents the fairest possible distribution of the levy, the inevitable result would be a stockpile of untaxed spare vehicles occupying every available free parking space in the country!

A radical but sound solution is to replace the tax disc with an MOT equivalent at a comparable cost. There is also a clear 'vote-catcher' here in that the shift would demonstrate the state's priority for safety above mere revenue collection.

Proof of third-party insurance could then simply form part of the MOT procedure. Despite the predictable howls of protest, a motor mechanic is no less qualified to verify an insurance certificate than is a post office clerk.

So, there you have it. Problem solved. The spy cameras need to be looking only for un-MOT'd vehicles and the rest will take care of itself.