Roadside insurance checks - Loophole closed

Big Brother advances relentlessly; the idea of personal privacy becomes ever more tenuous. Civil libertarians may sometimes regard this never-ending evolution with justified concern but technology more often than not serves the common good.

The announcement that gardaí are to begin to use hand-held devices to scan vehicle number plates to establish immediately and on the roadside whether a vehicle is insured must be welcomed. Only those who do not insure their vehicles need fret that another loophole has been closed off.