In a recent study in America, it was found that a record number of people would evade car insurance on the basis that the credit crunch had badly affected them. Arguing along this axis the survey by the Insurance Research Council said there would be a link between the rising number of uninsured motorists and the ever growing rate of unemployment in the Country. It, thus, projected that the percentage of uninsured drivers would rise nationally from 13.8 per cent, two years ago, to 16.1 per cent, by next year.

Accidents involving uninsured drivers

Using California as a case study, it estimated that in 2007 up to 18 per cent of drivers used the road without insurance and that a rise in the number of uninsured drivers would mean a greater chance of insured drivers being involved in a road accident with someone who has no car insurance.

While the above findings are only a confirmation of the largely growing situation in which many road users have taken to skipping car insurance in order to save costs, the alarming fact is that steps by governments to ensure that a message of zero tolerance for insurance evaders has yet to hit the intended mark.

In the UK, for example, a new policy which aims to make sure the car insurance evaders enjoy no breathing space was recently proposed by the government. Speaking profusely about it on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick clearly signalled a warning when he said there would be efforts to stop those whom he described as “the selfish minority drivers” from refusing to take out car insurance. Mr Fitzpatrick was so openly bitter with the uninsured drivers that he went on to say that by refusing to insure their cars “they push up the premiums for other drivers and kill or injure thousands of people each year.”

No basis for meltdown argument

His anger, now doubt, is understandable. As was succinctly put by the study mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article, the menace of uninsured drivers ridiculously constitutes a danger to everyone who uses the road. The fact that the economic meltdown is making life hard for people would not, as such, warrant this rather self-centred attitude. The story of the credit crunch is like that of rainfall, which does not selectively fall on some roofs while deliberately exempting others. We are all in it together.

Often, when considering evading the law it’s advisable that the negative costs of such action are weighed vis-à-vis the rewards of the successful evasion. While in successfully executing the plot the triumph is great, what evaders, especially uninsured drivers, need to know is that such victory is short-lived. And the repercussions could be really depressing.

In the UK while the proposed tougher rules would mean a complete crackdown that would see evaders paying fines that range from £100 to £1000, uninsured drivers in the US are automatically liable to the claims raised by an insured driver whose car they damage. They also take the liability for the personal injury caused the other driver or anyone else involved in the accident caused by their nonchalance and carelessness, perhaps.

The argument that tough times rendered them unable to take out cover, therefore, helps in no way to alleviate their worries. What does help is their readiness to embrace the honest truth and make themselves validly insured.