Penalties are too soft to tame the uninsured

Next time you’re stuck in traffic, take a look at the drivers around you. There’s a good chance that at least one of them has no insurance for the car they’re in. There are, it’s reckoned, two million motorists without insurance – that’s more than one in 20.

It’s a huge problem and one that costs you and me money. If you’re doubly unlucky and bend a fender with one of the lawbreakers, your insurance will have to foot the bill,never mind who’s to blame. Paying for the damage they do adds £40 to cost of the insurance we buy.

But the problem’s bigger than that. If they’ve no insurance, it’s a bet that they have are unlicensed and may be disqualified. The car’s probably not registered or MoT tested and may even be stolen.

Police teams using number plate scanning cameras can and do stop and seize illegal cars. But they’re nibbling at the edges.

A panel of Britain’s top judges, prosecutors and police have just issued sentencing guidelines to courts for the coming year. They’ve come down hard on drivers who cause fatal accidents because they’re drunk, or because they are chatting on text on their mobile phones. But, curiously, they’ve been lenient with the uninsured. Even if they kill, they need not go to jail unless other offences were committed, such as speeding or failing to stop.

Here’s my take on this. I’d like life for no-insurance drivers to be to be made as tough as it gets. If the courts made it clear that jail was a promise should they take a life, it would send a firm warning that might just nudge a few off the roads.

Looks to me as if such a chance has been missed. That’s a pity. But what do you think? Post a comment below.