Accident Claims Follow Millions of Drivers without Insurance
More than two million vehicles on the road are uninsured, Government figures show.
This means that almost one motorist in 15 is driving without cover.
Previous research has shown uninsured drivers are the most likely to fail to stop after an accident. They have also been found to be ten times more likely to drink and drive.
Last night, opposition MPs accused ministers of “grossly underestimating” the problem.
As well as committing more crimes, they said, uninsured drivers were leaving law-abiding motorists to pick up the bill through increased premiums.
LibDem MP Lynne Featherstone said Department for Transport figures showed a rise of 100,000 uninsured drivers in just one year – with the total figure amounting to 6.5 per cent of all vehicles in the UK.
“The Government has obviously fallen asleep at the wheel on this one,” she said.
“Their policies for pursuing uninsured drivers have been a total failure and it is about time they accepted the facts and took action.
“As with most crime, it is inevitably the law-abiding public that end up footing the bill with uninsured drivers costing us on average £30 more in premiums.
“I get really, really angry that it is always the good guys who are the fall guys.”
In a Parliamentary answer, Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: “There are about 2.1million licensed vehicles – about 6.5 per cent of the UK vehicle fleet – being driven by uninsured drivers.
“We have no long-term evidence on trends and there is some recent evidence from the insurance industry showing that for the year 2006 there was a 4.2 per cent drop in claims for compensation for the victims of uninsured drivers.”
A DfT spokesman said new measures – automatic number plate recognition technology and increased powers for police to seize cars – were helping tackle the problem.
Plate recognition technology was already catching up to 1,500 cars a week, he added.
Figures from the Association of British Insurers show uninsured drivers are six times more likely to drive a non-roadworthy vehicle, three times more likely to have been convicted of driving without due care and attention and ten times more likely to have been convicted of drink-driving.