UK Could Crush 2m Uninsured Cars

Robert Schwartz: Because their crime is usually being poor or young or stupid. These are conditions calling for sympathy and help, not condemnation and punishment. Being poor or young or stupid is not excuse for breaking a law and endangering other people. I don't see why a poor person cannot insure his car. If he can afford the car itself, why can't he afford the insurance? If he really can't, there is the public transit system. And there are two human legs as the last resort, which 5 billion out of the 6 billion people in the world still depend on everyday. I don't see why a young person cannot insure his car. If he is under legal age for driving, then both himself and his parents are legally responsible. I don't see why a stupid person cannot insure his car. If a person is so stupid as cannot understand it's not allowed to drive without insurance, that person probably cannot understand that it's not allow to kill a person. The kind of retards should be locked up in a facility and be treated. And no, I am not a Fascist. I believe in human rights, as long as that action doesn't violate other people's more basic rights. Driving and living are basic rights, illegal driving compromises those basic rights of others and is thus not a right.

In the Uk, every vehicle pays an annual road tax which is evidenced by a disc (tax disc) issued by the national liciencing authority and must be displayed in the lower left corner of the windscreen. To get said tax disc, you must produce a valid insurance certificate for the car, and if over 3 years old, a Ministry of Transport certificate (MOT) showing the car has been examined by an authorised technician for safety, emmissions etc. To keep a car off road legally, you must fill in a form and send it to the authority stating that the vehicle is off the road. A problem in the past was young drivers got high performance cars (typically Ford Escort RSs etc), but insured them as bog-standard Escots. They were ok until in an accident as the police check would show the vehicle as insured. Even though I agree with uninsured vehicles being taken off the road, this is still more big brother from the nanny state. Heck, even the radio adverts warning people of insurance etc is said in a menacing voice. The whole policy of the govt (and other authorities in the UK), is that fining motorists is a substitute for direct taxation all in the name of safety and greeness.

Gosh, next thing you know they'll force people to pay for expensive licenses just to watch TV, and they'll send around jackbooted thugs in electronic surveillance vans to search for people using forbidden UNLICENSED TVs, and come knocking the door down when they have a suspect. Oh wait, they already do that.

@andyinsdca: As a driver here in the Mexican Republic of California, I whole-heartedly support this. The guesstimates are that 1 in 4 drivers are uninsured. Aw, that's nothing. Back in the '80s when I was living in the Banana Republic of Louisiana, HALF of all vehicles in New Orleans were uninsured, despite state-mandated liability coverage. And a large percentage of drivers in that city were thoroughly sauced. Add to that an insurance commissioner who eventually served time in "Club Fed," and you see why some of us aren't too sympathetic for those who fail to carry auto insurance. I worked for a company with offices all around the Cresecnt City, but not in it. My colleagues and I wouldn't go into the city for business appointments unless we were driving either a company car or a rental.