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.

Insurers will provide gardaí with details of insured vehicles based on the vehicle’s licence plate number and insurer name. The system was given a trial run in Limerick and was considered a success.

If successful the scheme should reduce the number of insurance claims involving uninsured or untraced drivers — 2,758 last year — and should help reduce costs in the sector.

It is not necessary to be even a tad cynical to wonder if those savings will be passed on to consumers.