RSA opposed to insurance agency

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has disagreed with a recommendation that a new agency needs to be set up to deal with inadequacies in the national vehicle and driver file.

The recommendation to create a Motor Vehicle Agency came from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, as a partial solution to the problem of uninsured driving in Ireland.

It is estimated that 6 per cent, or over 100,000 motorists on Irish roads do not have insurance, one of the highest rates in the EU. In most EU countries the equivalent figure is 2 per cent.

Uninsured drivers cost taxpayers an estimated €67 million in 2006, and add €45 to the cost of every motor insurance premium. During its study of the insurance market the committee highlighted the fact that no one agency is responsible for national motor and driver records, and suggested this was hampering attempts to reduce uninsured driving.

The Department of the Environment holds all car registration details on a database in Shannon but this cannot be used by gardaí to check if a vehicle is insured.

As a result, "gardaí have no readily available method of checking whether the displayed certificates are real or forgeries", the committee found.

As a solution, the committee proposed setting a new agency to hold the tax, insurance, NCT and registration details for every vehicle and also specific data such as the model and serial number.

Driver records including licence number and status, PPS number and penalty point and motor conviction details could also be held on this database, the committee recommended. Such a system would allow a garda at a checkpoint to check insurance details on the spot, allowing them to more easily identify unlicensed or disqualified drivers, and act upon this information immediately.

This recommendation was sent by the committee to all road safety agencies, including the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority.

However, the RSA board is unconvinced a separate agency is required to resolve problems with the driver and vehicle files. Instead, it has written to the Minister for Transport proposing that he request that the Department of Environment and the Garda carry out a detailed review of the database.

If this fails to remedy the problems, the RSA has said the vehicle and driver files should be transferred, along with necessary resources and finance, to the RSA.

John Casey, head of the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) said the existing database in Shannon is "less than adequate in terms of the insurance information that it holds". The MIBI handles claims from people in a crash with an uninsured driver. He said a project by the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) to provide timely and accurate insurance information was currently under development.

The system is based around the principle of an ATM, which allows the holder of an account in one bank to carry out a transaction with an ATM belonging to a different bank.

The technology quickly checks all associated banks to see if that person has an account and sufficient funds to carry out the transaction.

When contacted about the project last night, IIF spokesman Niall Doyle said the system, which has been under development for two years, could provide "real time" insurance information.

"At the moment a driver can enter invalid insurance information when applying for their vehicle tax and get away with it, because no one checks.

"With this system, if it is built, all vehicle tax applications could be checked.

"If it was linked to an accurate national vehicle and driver file you could then start to target uninsured drivers, hit-and-runs, stolen vehicles and disqualified drivers. It may also be possible to have this information made available on hand-held garda consoles or for use with an automatic number plate recognition system."

From June 7th, under an EU Directive, Irish motorists will have increased rights when it comes to tracking down information on other uninsured Irish registered vehicles or vehicles involved in a hit-and-run.

"Every IIF member and the MIBI are willing to build this system, which has huge implications for the business operations of insurance companies. The Department of Transport is also willing to work towards this solution and we are in discussions with the Department of Environment about the project," Mr Doyle said.

Driving without insurance is a criminal offence, and offenders also face getting two penalty points.