"Uninsured drivers are to be tracked by police using camera technology, who can then seize and possibly destroy their vehicles, under new measures."
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4417330.stm
Now, isn't that good news? All strength to that campaign, which will catch plenty of other criminal activity too.
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Certainly is good news. If as many as 2 million vehicles are uninsured then it's a scandal.
IMO an uninsured car shows a general disregard which is often reflected in the standard of the owner's driving. I'm sure that the statistics will prove that an uninsured vehicle is more likley to be involved in an accident.
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Not wanting to sound too cynical but I too wonder how new this news is. It seems to me that periodically the powers that be release, dress up and re-release stuff like this in order to justify their existence and/or assuage the increasing anger and frustration of law abiding motorists who pay their ever increasing taxes and subsidise the growing number who do not. Personally I'd like to see much tougher action taken against the scum but the system effectively allows the determined law breaker to get away with it since a) very few get caught in the first place and b) the penalties imposed in many cases seem to be less onerous than the cost of doing things the legitimate way.
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They're not even connecting to the insurance database until next year, so how does it work? Unless it's all spin.
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It's all written in future tense, in usual NewLabSpeak. They really do hold the general public in low esteem, don't they.
Sadly, they're usually right.
$$
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Old news or new news, I would have thought that it is good news. Aren't the powers to seize and the database development new news?
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Can we look forward to some police to actually operate this system too? I have seen ANPR in operation a few times and a large number of resources are required - each time there have been three or four police cars and up to ten officers. Speaking to an officer it is good as it often identifies vehicles which are being driven by those who may have been involved in more serious crime, but justifying to the Inspector taking so many resources out of action for half a day can be difficult.
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It must have been said many times but in France we carry stickers for insurance cover and controle technique (MOT test) validity on the windscreen so it's easy to see who might be breaking the law. You don't need even to stop a vehicle completely to do a visual check. One gendarme standing at the access to a roundabout seems enough. It's so simple.
I bought a car from the UK recently that had an official-looking MOT renewal date sticker on it - maybe this is a first step in the right direction?
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On the M62 (midway between M60 and M6) there was a mobile CCTV police unit with a camera for each lane. I saw at least one car stopped, presumably for not having insurance.
A colleague driving past the City of Manchester stadium said police had pulled in a load of cars at the same time. If you know the area then probably know why they targetted it for drivers without insurance.
So the police are definately cracking down in Manchester.
Rob
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Just drove past the Stadium. Almost got sideswiped by a lowly and aged Hyundai who simply swung out from his lane into mine without looking and then tried to blame me (or so I thought from his later actions). Luckily I avoided him and managed to stop him chasing me by getting close to a client in his Range Rover and making it plain we were with each other.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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From the Yorkshire Post today:
A huge operation has been launched in Bradford to crack down on vehicle offences after figures showed the city was one of the country's hotspots.
West Yorkshire Police is one of four forces nationwide taking part in the operation, alongside Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the West Midlands.
Officers are working in partnership with the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (MIIC) and enforcement teams from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to clamp down on unlicensed, uninsured, untaxed and unroadworthy vehicles.
You must have seen the Manchester operation.
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There was a campaign in Brimingham , featured on the PM News on Radio 4.
They interviewed someone who had been done, and had the car impounded .This woman said "What a liberty ...just paperwork..havent they got anyhting better to be doing, blah blah".
They also nicked someone who they discovered had firearms and drugs in his car. He could be looking at 7 years in prison, and they wouldnt have stopped him if his car hadn't come up as untaxed on the ANPR . From some inside knowledge , I have to say that many criminals are so thick/greedy that without things like this they would never be caught
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I think statistics have shown that someone driving uninsured is likely to have committed, or is in the process of committing, some other crime.
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L\'escargot.
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Erm... surely the obvious response from the Crims to this CRIME FIGHTING INITIATIVE will just be more cloned plates.
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