Irish Examiner view: Proposal from MIBI on uninsured vehicles deserves attention

A strategy to reduce the number of uninsured vehicles on our roads might ease the cost burden on hard-pressed motorists

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland suggests a primarily administrative model rather than gardaí having to catch drivers in the act of driving without insurance. Stock picture

A proposal aimed at cutting the number of uninsured vehicles on our roads deserves serious consideration. The model, from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI), would mark a huge shift in how the problem is addressed.

Rather than treating uninsured driving solely as an offence committed when a vehicle is being driven, it would place a continuous legal obligation on vehicle owners to maintain insurance from the moment a vehicle is registered.

Under this continuous vehicle coverage model, the focus would switch from gardaí catching drivers in the act of driving without insurance, to primarily administrative, with warning notices and fines sent to the owners of uninsured vehicles. 

Garda involvement and prosecution would only follow when owners refused to get their vehicles insured.

The prevalence of uninsured driving remains unacceptably high in this country. The latest figures from the MIBI show that one in 15 vehicles on our roads, or 6.5% of vehicles, are uninsured, compared with an EU average of 2.4%.

Despite detection and enforcement action by gardaí, who have received daily updates from the Irish Motor Insurance Database on the insurance status of drivers and vehicles since 2023 , the problem persists. Notably, it is the non-private vehicles — which may be owned by businesses and be part of fleets — rather than private vehicles that are the bigger problem. Last year, 14.4% of non-private vehicles were uninsured. This is compared to 4.2% of private vehicles.

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The consequences are borne by all motorists, with law-abiding drivers effectively subsidising the businesses and individuals who evade their legal obligations, as the cost of compensating victims of uninsured drivers is built into insurance premiums. MIBI CEO David Fitzgerald said yesterday that approximately €30 out of each motor insurance premium goes to this fund. A strategy that dramatically reduced the number of uninsured vehicles on our roads might go a little way to easing that burden on hard-pressed motorists.

This coverage model is the one used in many European countries where the incidence of uninsured vehicles is considerably lower than in Ireland. Evidence that continuous vehicle coverage contributes to a significant reduction in uninsured driving can be found closer to home, according to the MIBI, which cites its introduction in Britain. Prior to the enactment of the Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) law, Britain had a similar proportion of uninsured vehicles on its roads to what we currently have — now it stands at 2.5%.

There are a number of factors that contribute to people’s decisions to drive without insurance, not least of which must be the stubbornly high cost. A move to the continuous vehicle coverage model might not make a big dent in our insurance bills, but it would send a clear message that insuring a vehicle is not an optional extra. 

In doing so, it could also be perceived as a fairer system which supports law-abiding drivers and penalises the rest. It is worth considering.

Energy costs

Finance minister and Tánaiste Simon Harris’s warning that Ireland “needs to keep its powder dry” for what threatens to be a difficult winter is unlikely to be met with much enthusiasm from the public.

The warning was issued ahead of the publication of the spring economic forecast, and followed a weekend of stories about the size of energy price increases we can expect due to the war in Iran. Household electricity prices are predicted to rise by as much as 9% by summer, and gas prices by substantially more. The conflict has already led to a 67.5% increase in home heating oil.

Given the speed with which the Government announced a relief package for one sector following five days of disruptive protests, and the political fallout from the same, it is difficult to see how it can resist the pressure for relief from every quarter. Rational people accept that the Government is not to blame for this fuel crisis — for that, we can look to the US and Israel and their stunning failure to foresee and deal with Iran’s response to being attacked. However, the Government has created precedent for cushioning everyone from the full impact of soaring energy costs.

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Electricity credits, introduced in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, gave every household in the country €450 off their electricity bills in the winter of 2023/24, at a cost of more than €1bn. Further credits, amounting to another €250 per household, were given the following year.

Last month, the Government cut tax on petrol and diesel in a package costing €250m. Some 19 days later, it signed off on another set of measures costing more than €500m. Those levels of untargeted expenditure are hardly compatible with “keeping our powder dry” or protecting our war chest for what could be even more gruelling times ahead. The challenge now facing the Government is how to avoid creating a cascade of expensive interventions, after raising expectations that it will do exactly that if enough pressure is applied.

Empathy at the heart of the matter

News that medical students at Trinity College Dublin are to be assessed from next year on their ability to “love” is most welcome. The understanding of love, in this context, embraces the traits of compassion and empathy that most of us would like to experience in our dealings with our doctors.

But it goes beyond that, fostering a more holistic relationship between doctor and patient, according to the authors of a report on why love should be included as a core enabling concept in the medical curriculum.

Modern medicine, with its focus on empirical evidence and data, has led to significant advances in diagnostics and treatments, according to Colin Doherty and Claire Donohoe.

However, the same focus can reduce patients “to numbers and metrics”, a feeling often experienced by patients and their families in the throes of medical treatment.

The concept of embracing compassion and empathy, but also vulnerability, self-respect, and mutual regard reintroduces the personal dimension, reminding healthcare providers that “they are treating individuals, not just diseases”.

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The concept has been included as a graduate outcome at Trinity’s School of Medicine, on which students will be assessed from next year. Direct observation to evaluate a student’s ability to establish trust, show respect for vulnerability, and have a capacity for mutual regard is suggested in the report as the best approach to assessing the students.

Healthcare professionals work under extraordinary pressures in our hospitals and medical practices, and it is understandable that their focus can sometimes be more on the diagnostics and treatments offered by science than the patient in front of them. Most remain aware that they are treating an individual rather than a disease, but it is a positive move to instil these values in our future doctors.