Insurance is legally required – Pass the message loud and clear to young motorists
Many drivers, especially those between the age group of 17 to 20 are unaware of the fact that car insurance is a legal requirement and people may be convicted if they take an uninsured car on the road. In Australia, about 230,000 people are convicted every year for taking out an uninsured car on the road, and a majority among them is the youth.
It has been found from various researches that about 10% of youth mostly drive uninsured cars. This is basically because of two reasons - the higher premium rates of car insurance for young drivers as well as ignorance of the legal requirement of cars to be insured. High rates of premiums that are charged by car insurance companies dissuade young drivers to go for it. Young drivers are mostly students and have a tight monthly budget and are not very keen on cutting their expenses for paying high car insurance premiums. Most young drivers are also unaware of the legal requirement in this regard and also about possible consequences if they get involved in an accident while driving a car that is not insured.
The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) believes that the main reason behind youth driving uninsured cars is that law is quite soft in dealing with the offenders. Although, the cops have been given the power to not only seize, but also destroy an uninsured car, but with so many vehicles being quite low in value, it does not act as a strong enough deterrent for drivers committing the offence.
It has also bee found that most of the accidents involving young drivers occur in uninsured vehicles. Because most people in this age group are students, it is necessary that they be properly educated about this legal requirement. It will be better if this could be somehow integrated into the process of issuing the driving license. Such a move will make sure that whosoever has a driving license, knows the legal provision regarding car insurance.
At times, these young drivers are taking an uninsured vehicle out on the road because they are too confident about themselves and their driving skills. Probably due to their age, they are not afraid of taking risk without thinking about the consequences that might follow. To deal with such kind of drivers, some major changes in the legal provisions are required so that some really harsh punishment could be imposed on drivers, if they are caught driving an uninsured vehicle on the road, and an even harsher punishment if they get involved in an accident while driving such a vehicle.
