New online detection system slashing number of uninsured drivers on Irish roads

Irish Daily Mirror

28-04-2025

A new online detection system is being credited with halving the number of uninsured drivers on the country's roads.
It has emerged that the percentage of uninsured cars is down by almost 50 percent after the introduction of the new Irish Motor Insurance Database.
The new system allows gardai to instantly check whether or not a vehicle is covered by insurance.
Research conducted by the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland, found that private uninsured vehicles represented over four percent of the overall private fleet across the country last year.
That's an almost 50 percent reduction from when the same analysis was undertaken for 2022 when the percentage total stood at over eight percent.
Last year, the bureau found there were a total of 101,881 uninsured private vehicles within the overall total of 2.4 million. This was calculated by contrasting all the vehicles that were taxed with those that were insured
By comparison, in 2022 the number of uninsured private vehicles stood at 187,803 within an overall private vehicle total of 2.25 million.
The statistics show that the number of uninsured private vehicles has dropped from one in every 12 in 2022, to one in every 25 last year.
The use of new, data-linked mobile Apps and Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology has been hailed as a game changer for the gardai.
Since the middle of last year, gardai have had instant access to the database and this saw the number of drivers caught soar by 67 percent on 2023.
David Fitzgerald, chief executive of the bureau, said the new system allows gardai to know if a vehicle is insured or not within seconds.
He said: 'It is very encouraging to see the impact that the new detection system is already having on the number of private uninsured vehicles on our roads.
'Following its introduction the number of uninsured private vehicles has practically halved, which is good news for all road users and anyone concerned about Irish road safety.
'Following the introduction of this system, last year gardaí were able to seize 18,676 vehicles in 2024 and issue a further 26,094 summons and charges.
'This system allows gardaí to see in seconds if a vehicle is uninsured or has not been added to the database, allowing them to act quickly in apprehending any offenders.'
Last year gardai seized 18,676 vehicles for being uninsured, a 67 percent increase from the previous year and this is being attributed to the implementation of the database system.
Mr Fitzgerald added: 'While progress has certainly been made, there is clearly additional work to do to combat illegal uninsured driving.
'This is particularly apparent in the data for commercial vehicles, where we see a higher proportion of vehicles that are either uninsured or not uploaded to the National Fleet Database by their fleet owners or motor traders.
'The fleet data is now being used by gardaí across the frontlines and given the high number of fleet or other commercial vehicles which are not fulfilling their legal motor insurance obligations we anticipate there is likely to be a significant number of offenders identified and apprehended.
'Given these developments, we would encourage any fleet owners or motor traders who have yet to add all their vehicle details to the database to act now.'
The bureau is a not for profit organisation that was established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.
They are responsible for the ongoing management of the database.