By law, if you must drive on the public roads in Ireland, then you must first have car insurance. How then is the rate of uninsured vehicles in the country amassing up to 7.58% of the cars in Ireland?
Give it some thought, and you’ll agree with us that it calls for some concern.
The rising rate of uninsured private car drivers in the country raises doubts as to the safety of road use and puts other Irish drivers and road users at risk.
Another worthy fact is that one in eight Irish motorists do suspect that they can identify an uninsured driver.
You may ask, “So, what is the government doing about these scary numbers?” Well, that is enough reason to continue reading to find out the government’s response and how you can protect your family and loved ones against unruly drivers.
How The Irish Government Is Curbing The Menace Of Uninsured Driving
Flashback to 1933 when the road traffic act was introduced in Ireland, thereby making car insurance compulsory for motorists on Irish roads. The Act underwent some iterations over the years, up unto its most recent review in 2014.
Car insurance is far more accessible nowadays. According to The AA Insurance professional, Irish drivers can get their insurance quote through their smartphones and laptop devices thanks to the involvement of technology in the insurance industry. The car insurance policy helped motorists to reduce the cost of unforeseen theft and damages caused to their car due to accidents or theft.
Despite this ease of access to getting insured, there is still an alarming number of uninsured private cars, and the authorities in Ireland are not turning a blind eye to it.
In fact, the Garda Siochana (by the way, that is a term used to identify the national police service of the Republic of Ireland), which is headed by the Garda Commissioner, has been charged with the responsibility of seizing any vehicle found without valid car insurance.
The driver will also have to face very stringent penalties, which include an enormous fine, an automatic court hearing, and up to five penalty points.
Likewise, the Motor Insurer Bureau of Ireland is a non-profit-making organization registered in Ireland. The sole purpose of the organization is to assist and compensate victims who have sustained damages or injuries in the course of accidents caused by unidentified and uninsured vehicle owners.
How Technology Is Improving Road Safety In Ireland
Clearly, the role of technology; cannot be overemphasized as it has literally improved our lives, despite its possible downsides. In times past, vehicles lacked modern safety features such as brake assist, pedestrian detection, blind-spot warning, automatic emergency braking, and so on, which have preserved more lives on our roads.
The insurance industry previously required the physical presence of an insurer to make claims, get an insurance quote, and so much more, but things are not the same as before.
Technology is influencing various industries of the world, and more people are embracing these new features to make their work faster, easier, and of course, richer.
Moving on, in the case of identifying uninsured drivers who are disrupting the safety of roads in Ireland, MIBI is lending their voice in support of the implementation of Motor Third Party Liability Insurance database aimed at finding uninsured culprits using technology.
MIBI is also working closely with the police force to follow through on recovery costs charged to uninsured drivers after an accident might have occurred.
The organization is also in support of the automatic number plate recognition system. With ANPR, Garda Siochana can easily identify uninsured vehicles by scanning their number plate. This new method; is predicted to reduce the threat to law and order on the road, and in turn, improve the safety of lives and property.
With the MTPL and ANPR system in place, offenders would have a very hard-time escaping the wrought of the law, and the number of uninsured private vehicles should decrease considerably.
The car insurance policy is an unavoidable cover that is beneficial to every driver because accidents are mostly unpredictable. Failure to comply with the 1933 road traffic act is setting yourself up to defy the law.
Finally, with the new measures rightly implemented to detect uninsured drivers, there would be no hiding place for offenders.
