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Direct Line: Penalties for uninsured driving not high enough
10 September 2008 11:00
The scale of punishment faced by uninsured motorists is insufficient given the financial detriment they cause to law-abiding drivers, Direct Line has asserted.
car insurance policyholders have to pay an extra £30 on their premiums on average to meet the cost of damage caused by uninsured vehicles, yet the average fine faced by motorists for driving without cover nonetheless fell from £224 in 1997 to £185 in 2006.
This trend has perturbed Direct Line, which responded by highlighting how nominal this penalty is in comparison to the £1,000 fines dished out for failing to pay TV license fees or for fare evasion on London buses and the £5,000 fines handed out to graffiti artists.
The insurer also underlined the wider threat posed by uninsured drivers, given that they kill roughly 200 people on the road each year, as well as being far more likely to have been convicted of drink driving or of driving without due care than other motorists.
Direct Line's head of car insurance Maggie Game expressed concern at the comparative inadequacy of the fines currently being handed out for driving without cover, insisting that the penalties assigned must serve as a deterrent against this type of offence.
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