Uninsured driving: firms MUST help out

If you have not come across the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) then you have probably never been involved in a crash with an uninsured driver.

The MIB was created in 1946 to compensate innocent victims where the third party was either uninsured or could not be traced. Over the years the cost of these accidents has grown steadily. In 2006 the total cost was approximately £350 million.

The fund (or levy) is paid for by honest motorists, fleets and businesses with company vehicles as insurance companies are obliged to finance the MIB from the premiums they collect from their customers.

The growing cost of the non-insurance problem led the insurance industry to create the Motor Insurance Database (MID), which is run by the MIB, and is used by the police to identify uninsured drivers. The police have instant access to this database and the MIB supplies monthly 'hot-lists' of vehicles that have ceased to appear on MID.

Last year, this information led to tens of thousands of vehicles being seized on suspicion of being uninsured, and to many more drivers receiving a notice to produce their documents, or being fined for not having the correct documents and in some instances being banned from driving.

Uninsured driving is a serious social problem, which is putting the lives of all road users at risk.

There have been many high profile cases where innocent law abiding citizens have been killed on the roads when one party was not insured. These unavoidable tragedies lead to human suffering and tragedy of an unimaginable scale.

Research shows that uninsured drivers are 10 times more likely to have been convicted of drink-driving and six times more likely to have been convicted of driving an unroadworthy vehicle.

Every year, uninsured and untraced (hit and- run) drivers are involved in accidents that injure about 27,000 people and kill 180.

The police regularly find that those drivers who have no insurance are involved in other crimes. The Government has recognised this problem and introduced a number of new measures, including the right to seize a vehicle and in some cases crush and destroy the vehicle to make sure it does not appear on the roads again. Also a new offence, which will enable identification of offenders from the record - using the MID and DVLA records.

Uninsured driving is often not seen as an issue for the business community, where insurance policies tend to cover all vehicles being used by a company, but companies are vital to tackling the problem.

Unless every insured vehicle is entered onto the MID, the police cannot rely on the data.

Therefore vehicles insured on policies written on a 'blanket' basis must be notifi ed to the insurer immediately for inclusion on the MID, or the policyholder risks a fine of up to £5,000 under the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003. The police will not want to inconvenience drivers unnecessarily especially commercial drivers going about their business, but drivers may be seriously inconvenienced, as the police are increasingly seizing vehicles not on the MID.

Failure to notify vehicles quickly can lead to serious consequences for company drivers as they watch their vehicle removed to a pound, with a hefty charge to get it back.

MIB works with all the major fleet organisations to raise awareness of the MID and the need to supply vehicle details, but a number of businesses remain stubbornly resistant to doing their bit.

Some claim not to know about the legal obligation but a hard core simply can't be bothered to take the simple step of telling their insurers about the vehicles coming on and off their fl eets. MIB last year presented such cases to the Crown Prosecution Service after all other approaches had failed to get companies to comply.

Most businesses would not dream of despatching their drivers without the proper road tax or insurance but they are apparently quite happy to risk their business reputation by allowing them to be stopped and left stranded at the roadside.

They would no doubt argue that they are not contributing to the uninsured driving menace, but as long as they do not participate in the solution, they may inadvertently be adding to the problem.

A quick chat with their broker or insurer will reveal what responsible businesses need to do to ensure that their details are up-to-date, and help the police focus their attention on catching the uninsured and deny criminals the use of the roads.

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