Almost 20,000 commercial vehicles have not been uploaded to the National Fleet Database (NFD) more than two months after legislation aimed at reducing the number of uninsured drivers on Irish roads came into force.
Around 8 per cent of vehicles have policies allowing for the transfer of cover from one to another within a specific fleet with such policies typically used by car dealers, taxi firms, haulage and transport companies and retailers.
Since late last year, it has been mandatory for fleet operators to identify the registration numbers for their vehicles and ensure they are added to or removed from the National Fleet Database within a period of 14 days.
It has emerged that just under 233,000 qualifying vehicles had been uploaded to the NFD as of the start of last month.
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In response to a parliamentary question from Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said that it represented 93 per cent of the fleet, which is said to be around 250,000.
Ms Murphy expressed surprise that as many as 18,000 vehicles had yet to have their details uploaded and warned that the owners risked fines and having their vehicles impounded unless they adhered to the legislation.
What really concerns us is that these are not your ordinary vehicles, these are going to be taxis and trucks
— Susan Gray - PARC road safety group
“There’s an obligation here and it is really clear,” Ms Murphy said. “There’s insurance implications and there’s a consequence for non-compliance. This is part of a road safety initiative but if we don’t have a complete database it makes a mockery of the system,” she said.
She stressed that the new legislation had been introduced “primarily from a road safety perspective to make sure people are insured it’s not there to add bureaucracy”.
“What really concerns us is that these are not your ordinary vehicles, these are going to be taxis and trucks – vehicles that are on the road continually and we are sharing the roads with them,” said Susan Gray of road safety group PARC.
She expressed disappointment that months after the new legislation came into force there was still no indication of how many – if any – people had been prosecuted for being in breach of the new law.
“What’s the point of these laws if they’re not going to be enforced? There needs to be an advertising campaign so people realise the consequences of not complying and there needs to be prosecutions.”
Under the legislation, the updated NFD details are to be continually checked by the Gardaí with the data used to identify vehicles being driven illegally without insurance.
If the NFD is checked by the Gardaí and a vehicle is not listed in the database, at best the driver will have to provide proof of insurance at a Garda Station within 10 working days; at worst, their vehicle could be impounded and the driver could be facing prosecution for driving without insurance.
According to the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) as many as one in 12 vehicles in the State are not properly insured.
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