Mandatory Driver Number Requirement Introduced for Motor Vehicle Insurance in Ireland
Dublin: From March 31, the inclusion of a driver’s license plate number will become mandatory for all motor vehicle insurance policies in Ireland, including policy renewals. The Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) announced that the new regulation is designed to combat uninsured driving and enhance road safety.
Under the new law, it will be an offence for insurance providers or brokers to issue motor insurance policies without recording the driver’s license plate number. This data will be shared with the Irish Motor Insurance Database (MID), enabling An Garda Síochána to access the information via mobile devices from March 31. This will significantly improve the ability of Gardaí to identify uninsured drivers on the spot.
Each vehicle owner possesses a unique driver number, listed under Section 4(d) of their driving license. This lifelong identifier remains unchanged even if the vehicle, insurance provider, or driving license is renewed. The driver number will now be included in all motor insurance policies as part of the Road Traffic and Roads Act, 2023.
The driver number information will be added to the Garda’s Irish Motor Insurance Database, a system designed to detect and apprehend uninsured drivers swiftly. This development represents the final phase of the Irish Motor Insurance Database project, a collaborative initiative involving the Department of Transport, An Garda Síochána, Insurance Ireland, MIBI, and insurance providers.
According to MIBI, approximately 188,000 private vehicles were uninsured in Ireland in 2022, accounting for one in 12 vehicles. The Gardaí already maintain insurance records for over three million vehicles and five million drivers, updated daily. The introduction of the driver number as a unique identifier will provide law enforcement with greater insight into individual offences and help prevent repeat offenders from evading detection.
Irish Samachar English News
{OR} Kindly click to follow the Irish Samachar News channel on WhatsApp
Comments are closed.