Safe Speed Forums

ONE IN FIVE DRIVING WITHOUT INSURANCE
About 250,000 young people already breaking the law
As many as 250,000 young people between the ages of 17 and 20 are estimated to be driving without insurance, according to figures released today by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). This group is four times over-represented in claims to the MIB and highlights the significant proportion of young people with a driving licence (about 1.25 million) causing accidents without any insurance cover. Many young
people incorrectly believe that insurance is based on the value of a car, as opposed to the risk profile of the person driving.
No-claims bonuses and other discounts can lower premiums by as much as 65% and young drivers should start to build up a record of safe driving from the outset. Furthermore, research for the MIB shows that one in ten young drivers are not aware that motor insurance is a legal requirement.
The police are being more successful in taking uninsured vehicles off the UK road network – as many as 500 a day – and the penalties for driving without insurance are serious: the police seize the uninsured vehicle, the driver will get a fine and a minimum of 6 points on their licence. To have the vehicle returned, the registered keeper will still need to buy motor insurance.
Ashton West, Chief Executive of MIB said:
“Britain has one of the worst records in Europe for driving uninsured – around 5% of the population. Young people make up a significant number of uninsured drivers and with one in five newly qualified drivers having an accident in the first year of driving, they need to make choices based on the consequences of driving without insurance and not just on price alone. While we recognise the financial pressures for drivers taking to the roads for the first time, it is also a criminal offence to drive without proper insurance cover. More than £500 million in funds from law-abiding motorists are used every year to compensate people for property damage and personal injury as a result of uninsured drivers.”
www.mib.org.uk

Notes to editors
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau aims to significantly reduce the level and impact of uninsured driving by working closely with partners across government and the insurance industry. The Bureau guarantees compensation to victims involved in accidents with drivers who have no
insurance or failed to stop.
The Motor Insurance Database, introduced in 2001, is the only central record of more than 35 million registered vehicles in the UK. The MID supports a range of users entitled to different levels of information about insured vehicles, including the police, solicitors, the DVLA and the public.
All drivers can check their vehicle registration appears on the MID today at www.askMID.com. Since 2005, more than 550,000 uninsured vehicles have been seized by police using ANPR technology.
The Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) scheme scheduled to be in place by 2011, will identify vehicles that appear to be kept without insurance. The registered keeper will be reminded that insurance is a legal requirement and failure to have valid insurance will result in a fixed penalty.
Fast facts – uninsured driving
• Driving without valid insurance is a criminal offence and attracts 6-8 penalty points
• Uninsured and hit and run drivers injure 3 people every hour and kill 3 people every week
• A custodial sentence of up to 2 years is passed for those who kill while driving uninsured
• Research shows that uninsured drivers are 5 times more likely to be involved in road collisions, to fail to comply with other road traffic requirements, and to be engaged in other criminal activity
• The UK’s highest levels of uninsured drivers are concentrated in the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, London Metropolitan and Merseyside
• Uninsured driving costs the UK more than £500 million every year
• In the UK about 5% of vehicles are uninsured, compared with 0.1% in Sweden and 0.2% in Germany
• The police convict around 230,000 people for uninsured driving every year
• More than 33,000 new claims against uninsured and untraced motorists were reported to the Bureau in 2008 – an average of 90 claims a day
• The number of claims involving uninsured and untraced vehicles has fallen by almost 13% in the last three years primarily as a result of police activity including vehicle seizure supported by the MIB police helpline.

Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE)
The Road Safety Act became law in November 2006, and introduced a new offence which is aimed at overcoming the problem of vehicles not specifically covered by any insurance policy (even a blanket policy) being used by drivers who claim cover under their “driving other vehicles” extension. The requirement for insurance will apply to vehicles whether they are being driven or not.
The new approach will also have the added benefit that, like continuous vehicle registration, it can be enforced “from the record”, and vehicles need not be seen on the roads before action can be taken.
Once the necessary regulations are drawn up, it will be an offence to be the keeper of a vehicle which is not covered by a specified policy or by a blanket policy (“open cover contract”) covering vehicles owned by the policyholder or other party named in the policy. There will be specific exemptions, the main two of which will be that the vehicle has been statutorily declared off the road (SORNed) or a change of keeper is in the process of being completed by the DVLA.

The Act can be found at http://www.uk-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/20060049.htm
The detailed enforcement process is under discussion with the Government, and will not be finalised for some time. See press release [url=http://www.mib.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6291A8F4-C89C-410E-B70E-166BC4C2E6EA/524/NoplacetohideforUKsuninsureddrivers.pdf]No Place to hide for UK's uninsured drivers.
RoSPA response Here Section :
BVRLA response Here
DfT info Here [/url]

Have the insurance companies got so greedy and justified such high premiums that young drivers simply cannot afford insurance. A fair and reasonable price would enable them to be legal.

Insurance is affordable for most young people on minimum wage if they're living at home with their parents. They'll just have to spend less on socialising and gadgets and other stuff just like a lot of people to do to run a car. If they don't have a job then they can't afford a car.

Catch 22 there. Jobs for young people are rare in many parts of the country thanks to the recession. My younger brother, for example, couldn't even get a job at McDonalds as they had about 1000 applicants for 3 positions. He's going to have to look further afield than his local area if he's going to find work and that's going to require car ownership.

As an aside: Working at an "amazonian" company is a lot harder than you would think...a 60/hr week...over 7 days...targets set high...and walking an average of 12 miles a day picking/packing....no overtime/antisocial hours pay....not allowed to use personal transport (no parking)....provide own ppe...and time off sick allocated penalty points...6 points and goodbye !
All for £6.30/hr.
And that is good pay for unskilled.

Hope this doesn't derail the thread too much, but I'm told that in order to work at the Amazon warehouse in Swansea one of the job requirements is the ability to speak Polish

Up until 18 months ago we weren't in anything like a recession and there were plenty of jobs. At the moment employers can be fussy. Things will change and they won't be able to. I worked as a temp using PT. It is pants but you just have to make do. I moved to where I worked so I could walk to work. Did that for ages. I was made redundant from that job so I moved to somewhere with a rail station so I have greater work options. The unskilled don't have to to be unskilled. It's their choice to not bother doing much at school. There are plenty of evening courses and such like where they could learn useful skills.

Most of the workers at the large retail warehouses here are enlisted from agencies, which also includes amazon.
Most of those so enlisted are work immigrants.
The "contracts" are short term, so the working time regs do not apply, and neither do the absolute hours for night workers.
As they are "employed" from agencies they (employees)(sic) are not "employed" by anyone...the end-user of their services is not their employer and neither is the agency.
Holiday pay doesn't arrive until 12 weeks have gone, and the various employment acts are of no use....the employment courts have no remit....less than 2 years service.
This is the future....we can only compete in the world by lowering standards and making everyone short-term employed ?

Never mind insurance...if people are on less than poverty wage you can expect a LOT more uninsured soon.

An insurance policy costing £1600, once you add on the extra for paying monthly, is going to cost you around £300 a month and that's just insurance alone, then there's fuel, maintenance and the car itself.

If the young person keeps their nose clean for the first two years then their insurance does come down quite rapidly. Those that don't are rightly penalised. When you reach 21 and 25 insurance costs also drops. There are plenty of people I know that didn't even own a car until they were mid to late 20s.