UK - Insurance wont go up with points

[StlouisX50]

An insurance company is no longer automatically penalising motorists with points on their licence due to the rise in the number of speed camera convictions, it has been revealed.

The Swinton insurance company said insurance providers were "having to accept that points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation".

And the company added that drivers with six points or more on their licence could soon be viewed by insurance companies as "standard" rather than "non-standard" drivers.

Motorists who incur 12 penalty points over a period of three years are liable to be disqualified.

The anti-speed camera group Safe Speed said the Swinton move showed that cameras were damaging the penalty points system.

Swinton said that with 6,000 speed cameras on the road catching two million speeders every year and drivers using hand-held mobile phones now incurring three-point penalties, "an unblemished licence is becoming rare".

Neil Ackinclose of Swinton added: "Over the last few years we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of drivers with penalty points requesting insurance.

"A few years ago insurers might have assumed that a motorist with six or more points on their license was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case.

"A 2006 YouGov survey estimated that 16 per cent of drivers now have points on their licence.

"As that figure continues to grow - with some estimating the actual number of drivers with points to be in the region of 10 million - insurance providers are having to accept that points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation."

Safe Speed founder Paul Smith said: "Insurance companies are in the business of calculating risk to set their premiums.

"This announcement is all the proof we need to know that driving licence points no longer indicate risky drivers.

"The vast majority of licence points are for speeding offences detected by camera.

"The Department for Transport's needless and ineffective obsession with speed cameras has therefore seriously damaged the penalty points system."

[shiggsy]

I have been waiting for this to happen, it was only a matter of time . They have completely devauled the points system. 10 - 15 years ago having some points on your licence actually ment something, today practically everyone I know has points on their licence.

[kpatz]

This is why tickets issued in an automated fashion (e.g. speed cameras) should NOT carry points.

Imagine driving past a speed camera and getting flashed, unknowingly. You may get a ticket in the mail, 2 weeks later. In the meantime, you've "sped" past the camera 5 more times during those 2 weeks. Suddenly, you have enough points to lose your license, when you aren't even aware that you were "caught" until it's too late.

Whereas, if an actual LEO pulled you over, you would know, and adjust your habits accordingly.

[shiggsy]

Actually in this country if there are 4 cameras down one stretch of road and you trip all of them you get 3 points per camera and lose your licence in one go.

I got caught with the 'fine through the post delay' on my bike when I was using a small section of Bus Lane to get filter past the traffic, had 3 £100 pound fines though the post in one go (no points for that). And i'm afraid the disallowing of bikes from bus lanes is the nail in the coffin for any arguments they have about about congestion charging, but that's a whole other rant.