Safe Speed Forums

http://www.itv-motoring.com/news/2005/n ... 8/7351.asp

Uninsured Driver Clampdown

(Tue 08 Nov 05)

New enforcement action to crack down on uninsured drivers has been unveiled by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. From today, police forces across the country can use automatic number plate recognition cameras to spot and ultimately seize and destroy cars being driven without insurance. These cameras are linked to a database which contains details of all vehicles registered in the UK which are believed to be uninsured.

"Today we are sending out a very clear message to those who drive without insurance - there is now no place to hide," said Mr Darling. "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.

"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. 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 anti-social drivers."

However, the move has been criticised in some quarters. Founder of Safe Speed Paul Smith says that, although the problem of uninsured drivers requires serious solutions, the current plans are a "bad joke".

"The uninsured driver problem is considerably worsened by this government's anti-car and anti-motorist policies; more and more motorists are finding that they are simply better off outside the law."

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Comments taken from this Safe Speed PR issued at 04:32 this morning:

PR254: ANPR and uninsured driving claims are just plain wrong

news: for immediate release

Uninsured driving is a serious problem, but Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(ANPR) won't fix it says Safe Speed.

ANPR is a system that uses a video camera looking at vehicles to 'capture'
number plates. The registration mark is then compared electronically with
various databases of vehicles that the Police may be interested in.

Government claims that ANPR can be effective against uninsured drivers do not
bear scrutiny, and for very simple reasons:

* It's not the VEHICLE that needs insurance under the law, it's the DRIVER.

* About 3 million motor vehicles are 'in the trade' at any one time. Most of
them will be properly insured, but none of them will be listed as insured in
the databases.

* At least 1.5 million vehicles are in large fleets and are not insured based
on vehicle registration mark. They aren't in the databases either.

* It's far from unusual to have a vehicle that is registered as insured being
driven by a driver who has no insurance to drive in force. ANPR thinks the
insurance is OK, but it isn't.

* Even with a massive police effort it is virtually inconceivable that they
will reach 250,000 prosecutions in a year. With two million uninsured drivers
that means that the average uninsured driver should expect to get caught just
once every EIGHT years.

* ANPR can be defeated by stealing or cloning vehicle registration marks.
Widespread use of ANPR will make this practice commonplace and threatens to
undermine the entire registration process. Reports suggest that 10% of
vehicles are already lost to the system.

* Police officers have already reported so many false positives with ANPR,
that they simply turn the equipment off. (reported in Auto Express)

* Vehicle seizures will encourage the use of 'disposable' vehicles. The Police
crush a £100 banger, and the uninsured driver simply buys another. He's back
on the road in a week.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "Estimates of the number of uninsured drivers on
our roads range up to 2 million. By any standards it's a serious problem. But
serious problems require serious solutions. Current plans are a bad joke."

"The uninsured driver problem is considerably worsened by this government's
anti-car and anti-motorist policies; more and more motorists are finding that
they are simply better off outside the law."

<ends>

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

What on earth is Darling on about?

If someome is keeping a properly SORNed car off the road, and doesn't drive it who is the "uninsured driver" who will be prosecuted?

Is he now saying that a car that is subject to a SORN declaration still has to be insured? If so, both my son, who has a SORNed uninsured car, and my brother who has three classic Autin Healey Sprites, only one of which is on the road and insured, the other two being in the process of being rebuilt, will be liable.

SORN is proposed as an excemption to the requirement, though of course it isn't finalised yet.

Darling's statement that:



is particularly funny I think, but you have to read it a couple of times to realise just how little sense it makes.

It's a bit like saying 'we will be able to catch burglars even if they haven't committed a burglary'. It sounds all right at first, but when you think about it, it just isn't logical.