Motoring Views
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Crackdown on insurance dodgers
16:43, Aug 7 2011
Drive Talking
by Ian Johnson, drivingforce.uk.net
PERHAPS one of the most galling aspects of driving in 2011 is the fact that insurance premiums are being forced up by the damage and carnage caused by uninsured drivers.
This hard core of drivers are adding an extra burden onto law-abiding motorists whose insurance companies have to shell out for the damage they cause
And a grim fact is that each year on Britain's roads uninsured drivers kill around 160 people and injure 23,000 more, underlining the fact that something has to be done.
So it is heartening to note that in the run up to Road Traffic Victim month uninsured drivers will find life may not be so easy.
The Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), which has found that insurance dodgers are responsible for running up £500 million in extra premiums to honest motorists, is now able to pursue drivers that do not have insurance in place much more easily.
Changes introduced towards the end of June authorise warning letters issued to uninsured drivers with incremental fines and stiffer penalties being pursued if drivers fail to respond to the new measures.
I have always regarded driving without insurance one of the worst of all motoring offences and it is high time it was addressed properly.
It all points to the fact that in a world where financial hardship is biting maybe much more severe punishment from the courts may be needed as a suitable deterrent to make a potential insurance dodger think twice.
