Car Insurance Crack Down

The UK has one of the highest rates of uninsured driving in Europe, a 'bad habit' that costs us over £500 million and 160 lives a year. However, thanks to new legislation that allows the Motor Insurance Bureau to share details of uninsured vehicles with the police, this number has slowly started to decrease.

Car insurance protects us against financial responsibility for any damage we may cause to an individual or property while we are driving. However, it's not just a 'nice thing to have'; it's also a legal requirement - to drive a car in the UK you must be covered by a valid insurance policy.

The MIB estimate that subsidising the cost of damages caused by uninsured drivers costs law-abiding drivers an additional £30 a year in premium costs, a figure that is only surpassed by the number of accidents and tragedies these drivers cause.

Thankfully a recent statement from the Association of British Insurers reveals that the recently implemented automatic number plate recognition technology now used by the British police in roadside checks to identify uninsured vehicles seems to be working.

So far this year this new system has resulted in over 100,000 uninsured vehicles being seized, a 25% increase on 2006. Additionally, over 45,000 vehicles have been crushed for uninsured offences.

On announcing this figure Ashton West, Group Chief Executive of the Motor Insurance Bureau proclaimed "The fight against uninsured drivers has now stepped up a gear, and we expect vehicle seizure numbers to increase over the coming months."

We can only hope that this crack down helps to drive down the cost of driving to a more affordable level, making our roads a much safer place to be in the meantime.