Uninsured drivers running for cover

New system slashes number on our roads by half

- BY PAT FLANAGAN

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% 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 4% of the overall private fleet across the country last year.

That's an almost 50% reduction from when the same analysis was undertaken for 2022 when the percentage total stood at over 8%.

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.