New crackdown on the menace of uninsured driving

New measures to crack down on the menace of uninsured drivers were announced today by Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman.

The new proposals, tabled as amendments to the Road Safety Bill, will make it an offence to own a car which is neither insured nor registered as off the road. The police will identify and prosecute uninsured motorists using a database of all registered vehicles in the UK.

Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman said: "The vast majority of motorists are rightly fed-up with the small hard core of anti social motorists who drive without insurance. These new measures will mean that there is no hiding place for uninsured drivers.

"We estimate that every law-abiding motorist pays £30 a year because of uninsured drivers. This new measure will be coupled with new police powers to electronically spot and ultimately to seize and destroy cars without insurance. We are determined to rid the roads of the menace of uninsured driving."

The new proposals are the latest move in a concerted government crackdown on uninsured drivers. From July 2005 the police took on new powers to seize and destroy uninsured vehicles and from November 2005 the police will start using automatic numberplate recognition technology to identify and prosecute drivers without insurance. On becoming law the new offence would mean that any drivers who have no insurance and have not registered their vehicle as off the road can expect to be fined and ultimately to have their cars crushed.