Operation Drive Insured
North Wales Police is supporting the national Operation Drive Insured campaign aimed at reducing the numbers of uninsured drivers using the region’s roads. During a week of enforcement action, officers across the country have been conducting an enhanced policing operation aimed at detecting and seizing uninsured vehicles.
The operation is co-ordinated by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) and partners, to help highlight the issue of uninsured driving. Each year in the UK over 130 people are killed and 26,000 are left injured in collisions caused by uninsured and untraced drivers, linking them to nearly one in every five road traffic collisions. This equates to one casualty every 20 minutes.
Since January 1st North Wales Police has seized 979 vehicles due to no insurance. Whilst statistics tell us that uninsured drivers cause more collisions, there is another consequence - higher premiums for other drivers.
MIB paid out £322 million in compensation in 2019 to victims of uninsured and untraced drivers, from funding provided by insurers and ultimately their consumers. The cost of compensating the victims of uninsured drivers is added on to your car insurance premiums, making them more expensive than they should be.
But that’s not all, figures from the Department for Transport indicate these collisions cost the wider economy a further £2 billion a year in the cost of providing emergency services, medical care, loss of productivity and property damage.
Inspector Gareth Jones of the Roads Policing Unit said, “Looking at these facts, it is hard to understand why someone would choose to drive without insurance but it may not be a surprise that uninsured drivers are often linked to wider road crime.
“Whilst there are criminals who knowingly drive a car without insurance or who withhold information or lie to get a cheaper quote, some insurance offences are committed unwittingly.
“This campaign is important to protect the majority of law abiding drivers using our roads in north Wales. Driving without insurance is not a victimless crime. Uninsured drivers are significantly more likely to cause a death or injury on the road and are also often involved in wider road crime.
“North Wales Police is urging all drivers to respect other road users and drive insured. Protecting the public and keeping our roads safe for everyone is our priority and removing uninsured drivers from our roads helps to do that.”
Further information regarding the national Operation Drive Insured campaign is available via the MIB website.
If you know someone who is driving uninsured, please report them to the police on 101 the non-emergency number or report anonymously via independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.