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DfT Get Tough with a Broad Bush
The Department for Transport (DfT) have unveiled tough new enforcement action to crackdown on uninsured drivers.
The Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling has announced that Police forces across the country can now use automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR) to spot and ultimately seize and destroy cars being driven without insurance.
The cameras are linked to a database which contains details of all vehicles registered in the UK which are believed to be uninsured.
“On top of these powers we are creating a new offence of keeping a vehicle without insurance.
This will be enforced through a new database of insurance details which means that uninsured drivers don't even need to be on the road to be caught"
The Transport Secretary saw West Midlands police in action as they began the crackdown. Alistair Darling said: "Today we are sending out a very clear message to those who drive without insurance- there is now no place to hide. "The new powers to link up cameras and the insurance database will make it far easier for police to tell if passing cars are uninsured and take action against the driver.
"It is estimated that every law-abiding motorist pays an extra £30 a year because of uninsured drivers. Drivers are rightly fed-up with those who flout the law and we are determined to rid the roads of this small hardcore of antisocial drivers."
MAG Says
The new offence of keeping a vehicle without insurance means that a motor vehicle must be insured at all times, even if sitting on a driveway or locked up in a garage.
This is in addition to the existing offence of keeping or using a vehicle on the road without insurance by introducing continuous insurance as another tax on drivers.
You can be exempt from the new offence by SORNing your vehicle, (which is free at present though the government has consulted on introducing a fee for SORN).
Experience and examples of the problems with the DVLA have highlighted that this can not be an easy process. For example, there are numerous cases of automated fines being sent out to otherwise law abiding citizens. Bearing in mind that the onus is on you to declare SORN and not on the DVLA to send a reminder.
This is due to the DVLA record system. The DVLA provides details of all vehicles on the road and should determine which vehicles have up to date registration. However, according to the Audit Commission, one third of DVLA records are incorrect by varying degrees.
This new law links data bases between ANPR cameras, the DVLA records, insurance companies and eventually the data base on MOT’d vehicles. The purpose is to catch criminals and the “underclass” of drivers. These people, who don’t insure or tax their vehicles are the reason behind this new legislation which gives the police powers to seize and destroy vehicles.
MAG UK supports the government on the principle that no person is above the law and road tax and insurance is an obligation for all law abiding citizens, however, due to the fact that motor insurance is mandatory while operated by private sector insurance companies, this latest piece of legislation will have two effects.
The first will be an increase in insurance premiums, the second will exclude younger people and those living in areas of high crime areas from driving at all. In other words we will all suffer the consequences of a minority of criminals.
The DVLA has already admitted that the fines sent out for non payment of VED are overwhelmingly to people who have simply forgotten to pay. When questioned about the number of criminals they had identified since the introduction of continuous registration, they replied that they did not know. This does not bode well for continuous insurance.
There are reports on the failings of insurance data bases to operate in real time. What this means is that there are inconsistencies with the other data bases and therefore the data from the insurers is acknowledged to be out of date or not available. So far no insurance company has been fined for not keeping up to date records.
In December 2004 the DfT published a consultation on “Continuous Enforcement of Motor Insurance Requirements From the Record” which MAG responded to, full details can be found on the “Riders Writes” section of the MAG UK website, www.mag-uk.org The DfT have since failed to publish the results of the consultations which is against their own guidelines before introducing the new offence, MAG is questioning this at present.
We Are Not The Only Ones - Doing Nothing is Now a Crime
The new offence of keeping a vehicle without insurance criminalises the previously harmless pastime of keeping an uninsured vehicle in a garage and not driving it, and comes on top of the previous breakthrough of criminalising keeping an untaxed vehicle in a garage and not driving it.
The latter was dealt with by requiring owners to register the vehicle as off the road via a Statutory Off-Road Notification.
The administrative convenience of turning not doing anything wrong into a crime will allow the Government to issue fixed penalty notices for failing to renew insurance on time, while there's also now a fixed penalty for late renewal of tax discs (previously, you could pay in arrears).
In both cases the penalties are clearly only going to hit people who've previously been registered with the system.
Dealing with the large numbers of entirely unregistered and uninsured vehicles will require real-time alerts and pursuit, and these vehicles will have to be differentiated from the many foreign registered cars on the UK's roads.
As it will be a lot easier and cheaper to fine the lawabiding but forgetful than it will be to deal with the hardline serial offenders, we think we can guess which way this one will go.
By John Lettuce - The Register - www.theregister.co.uk
MAG ACTION
You may wish to write to the Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling asking why the new offence has been introduced without following the consultation guidelines, as set out by his department.
You could also write to your MP if they will ask a question in Parliament on why the new offence keeping a vehicle without insurance has been introduced without following consultation guidelines, as set out by the DfT.
You can use the above details to frame your letter or the suggested letter in your own words:
Dear - Your MP/ Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling
As a motorcyclist/member of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK) I am concerned that riders could be prosecuted for failing to insure motorcycles that are parked on a driveway or kept in a garage due to the new offence of keeping a vehicle without insurance introduced recently by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The new offence, possession of a vehicle without valid insurance will enable the police to access the records of insurers and effect automated fines by default for vehicles not kept on the public high way unless the vehicle keeper has declared Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN).
While I recognise that uninsured motorists represent a serious threat to us all, in effect this proposal will force by law persons to pay insurance for “on road risk cover” for a vehicle that is off road where there is no risk and therefore no legal cover required.
Effectively the Government will assume that riders have been driving uninsured and punish the honest rider for crimes they have not committed, yet the irony is it won't make a shred of difference to those who choose to be outside the law.
There is a further issue of substantial time delays between the payment of insurance premiums and the updating of insurers' records, the Motor Insurers' Database (MID) with detection enhanced by the expanded use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology linked to relevant databases such as the MID. This will need to be addressed to prevent default prosecution of the completely innocent.
A fair price for third party insurance is a reasonable objective both for government and for the motorcycling community. I believe that the most effective way to discourage uninsured driving is to take steps to provide basic Third Party Only cover properly regulated by Government.
MAG is seeking clarification of the proposals and was closely involved in the consultation process in an effort to arrive at a formulae that satisfies justice and is proportionate to the problem.
The DfT failed to publish the results of the consultation which is against their/your own guidelines before introducing the new offence.
I would welcome your views especially regarding the MAG response to the DfT consultation available at www.mag-uk.org
Yours
You may also wish to stress in your own words how the proposed consultation would affect you as a rider, member of a motorcycle club or business.
Write to
Alister Darling
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street London
SW1P 4DR
You can find who your MP is at: www.locata.co.uk/commons
Send any responses to Trevor Baird Director of Public Affairs at public-affairs@mag-uk.org or to the MAG Office.
MAG UK
PO BOX 750
Rugby
CV21 3ZR
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