Vehicles that will be flashed by fixed speed cameras will soon be compared to the insured vehicle file. A way to fight against these very numerous practices.
The hunt for uninsured vehicles continues. By the end of October 2019, motorists flashed by a fixed radar will also be checked for their green sticker!
Objective: to combat uninsured driving involving more than 700,000 vehicles, according to an estimate by the Interministerial Observatory of Road Safety .
A measure that follows that tested in the Paris region since June 4, 2019, before generalization in the country: the control of the license plate by the police, who can access the file of insured vehicles (FVA).
A phase of prevention
Specifically, if the vehicle is flashed by a radar for speeding or at a red light, during the establishment of automated PV at the National Treatment Center in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), the plate will be reviewed and compared with the insured vehicle file, made up of the registration, the name of the insurer and the contract number mentioning its period of validity.
At first and for the sake of prevention, there will be no fine. Road Safety states:
“The owners of the vehicles checked will receive an information letter inviting them to regularize their situation.”
This period of prevention should last three months, before the automation of the system for each fixed radar control, and contravention if necessary, underlines the Road Safety, which indicates to officially communicate on the subject within a few days.
The amended decree was published in the Official Journal on the 7th October 2019.
1,200 radars turrets by the end of 2020
After the wave of radar destruction as part of the Yellow Vests movement, the Government has decided to deploy the new generation radar radars, with the aim of installing 400 of these radars. by the end of the year and 1,200 radars by the end of 2020, according to the estimate in the draft finance law 2020. Already being rolled out, these new models, just installed, are already subject to destruction.
According to Les Echos, the revenues of radars expected overall are therefore down sharply this year. They should be 500 to 600 million euros in 2019, while the government expected more than one billion euros. For 2020, it puts on about 730 million euros.
Driving without insurance: what consequences?
Driving without insurance can have serious consequences for the vehicle owner, as recalled by Road Safety when the insured vehicles file was created in July 2018.
In the event of an accident caused by a driver without insurance, the person responsible for the uninsured accident “will in no case be compensated for his own injuries or material damage”.
The victims are compensated by the Guarantee Fund for Compulsory Insurance of Damages (FGAO). The amounts committed by this fund in the event of an accident must be fully reimbursed by the driver without faulty insurance. Road Safety insists:
“In case of a serious accident, these sums can be very important. The driver responsible for the accident will have to repay monthly a monthly payment based on his income, sometimes throughout his life.”
In the first case of non-insurance, the offence is punishable by a fixed fine of 500 euros, reduced to 400 euros for a settlement within 15 days or increased to 1000 euros after 45 days.
If it does not fall within the standard fine, the owner of the vehicle risks to the court “a fine of 3750 euros, which may be accompanied by additional penalties such as the suspension or cancellation of the license, with the ban on driving, and the confiscation of the vehicle “.
If a new offence is found, the penal response, more severe, can go “up to 7500 euros fine with additional penalties such as the cancellation of the driving license with the prohibition of the driving, and the confiscation of the vehicle”.
Constant increase in the number of victims
According to the latest 2018 survey of non-road insurance published by the FGAO , the number of bodily victims paid by the fund for non-road insurance between 2013 and 2018 jumped 21%.
According to 2016 Road Safety figures, 235 people were killed in a road accident involving an uninsured vehicle. That is 7% road mortality in that year.
