According to highly respected breakdown and motor insurance company the AA, the number of times ordinary motorists are being pulled over by police in cases of mistaken identity is on a steep upward curve.
The motoring institution says that police are pulling people over to check if they are driving with a viable licence and are then subject to scrutiny about their identity. Not that these members of the motoring public are convicts on the run, simply that police number plate recognition technology is wrongly identifying the vehicles ID.
The AA say they are receiving approximately 20 calls a week from various police authorities asking for confirmation of insurance as quite often these drivers with mistaken identity and a genuine licence actually do not have insurance.
This techno slip is proving to be pretty successful in inadvertently catching those on the roads without proper insurance.
It is tough to be a car owner in the current economy with the amount of congestion on the streets increasing, the price of petrol sky rocketing, and more road taxes on their way supposedly after the election.
Outside of these concerns, there is also new research from the AA watch group that shows that car insurance is at an all time high, with more increases on their way due to the costs of paying the NHS for accident injuries, fraud, and higher claims.
With these factors to consider, it would be odd for AXA one of the former largest insurers in the UK to re-enter the market after it left car insurance brokering in 2004, but it has offering its services to a key aspect of the driving population.
At the centre point of their campaigns is the average experienced motorist that has had at least eight years since their last claim.
In order to secure this market, AXA is offering a 90% discount on all premiums to those who have not filed a claim in the past eight years, which is a large increase from the industry’s normal ratio of a 60% discount.
Director of AXA Insurance, Tina Shortle, stated that their research shows that drivers largely feel that they are not given any breaks or acknowledgement for being excellent drivers, which led AXA to focus their attention on this group.
The most impressive part of AXA new insurance policy is coverage up to £1m that covers loss of earnings and medical costs if a driver is injured in an accident that they did not cause. According to Shortle, they are the first insurance company to offer this type of coverage although many people often believe that they are covered under their current premiums.
The AA found that the snow and ice storms that brushed across Britain last week also brought with it an additional rise in car insurance claims.
On Friday AA car insurance had about 100 claims for accidents by lunch time due to the icy and snowy conditions.
The most common claim for the day was a rear end accident, in which one car ran into the other due to ice on the roads. Second most common for the day was sliding into moving vehicles at junctions, roundabouts, and bends.
However, even staying off the roads did not assure that Brits made it through the day undamaged as some claims were caused by drivers losing control and hitting stationary parked cars on the side of the road.
In fact, one AA customer filed a claim for an accident that occurred in his driveway when his vehicle was struck and pushed through the garage door.
The AA warned also that failing to clean off the snow and ice from a car before taking off also places others at risk due to the fact that it can fall off while the car is moving hitting others on the road and pedestrians.
In one accident snow and ice flew off of a lorry causing a seven car pileup.
Other roadside items such as bollards, phone boxes, and lamp posts can also become obstacles since drivers can lose control on icy roads and slide into them resulting in damage to their vehicles.
Additionally, AA often sees claims from drivers that have slide into skips, ridden up on a kerb, or fell into a ditch.
AA Insurance is asking authorities to take it easy on drivers who may have documents that are delayed due to the postal strike.
Director of AA insurance, Simon Douglas, stated that many of Britain’s 30 million drivers and still depend heavily on the post when it comes to paperwork that deals with motoring.
Thus, the postal strike can cause difficulties for many drivers that are trying to take care of their car tax or renew their license through the mail.
Douglas did make it a point however, that paper records should still only be used as a back up to information that should be loaded on national databases already. According to Douglas, most motorists should not have a problem proving they have stayed current, even without the documents due to the Motor Insurance Database.
At the same time, he cautioned that those who wait until the last moment to renew their license, only to find that the database is not updated quickly enough to prevent being stopped by the police.
He also stated that due to legislative delay in making electronic license certificates recognizable many drivers are unable to produce new documents in a timely manner. At the core of the matter is the delay in getting the amendment to make sure documentation legal, even though it was first drafted back in November of 2007.
Douglas also added that electronic delivery of such documents is also a positive way to conserve energy, making the amendment approval of even higher value.
Research from the AA shows that the cost for comprehensive motor coverage premiums is rising at its fastest rate ever, with a reported 5.6% jump within the first three months of the year to the end of September.
This is the largest increase since the group first started to monitor the insurance market back in 1994.
Additionally, the annual rate for the rise in coverage costs has also gone up by an astounding 14% which Simon Douglas the director of AA Insurance stated will lead to drivers seeing a sharp increase in the price they will have to pay when it comes time to renew annual premiums for car insurance.
Douglas went on to say that 89% of all insurers on the market have increased the price of premiums by a least five pounds in just the last quarter, with only 2.5% of insurances reduced.
The AA analysis takes into account quotes from 90 brokers and insurance companies over 1,000 consumer profiles, and found that rates rose from just £271 in 2008 up to £281 this year.
Even worse, the group warned consumers that in the future the prices of vehicle coverage premiums are expected to continue to rise, as car insurers are paying out more in claims in costs per premium received.
In order for car insurance companies to make a profit again, according to Douglas, current premiums would have to increase again by at least 20%, which is something that may occur soon given insurers have little choice.
According to the Government, next year clamping firms on private property will have tougher rules after a meeting in London in which ministers, motoring groups, and parking firms will convene to discuss fines associated with parking on private land.
Last month the councils of Maidenhead and Windsor voted to consider how to stop clampers that are considered to be ‘overzealous.’
Alan Campbell, the crime reduction minister said that during 2010 drivers that fall prey to clampers on repeated occasions will be charged a more ‘reasonable’ amount, and be given a fairer amount of time to pay up, before their vehicle is towed.
Campbell also promised that next year a new fair appeals process will be initiated that requires claming companies to sign up for a new code of practice, otherwise they will not receive a license. What is more, if they do not follow the code they can risk losing their licensing privileges.
In Scotland private clamping is outlawed, but in Northern Ireland cars that do not have licenses may still be clamped. Throughout the rest of the UK public roads and car parks parking restrictions are already under regulation through the law.
In 2005 a self regulating system was formed that included a code of conduct, but most clamping firms did not sign up to follow it.
The AA believes that clampers do not follow the code due to the fact that often they impose extremely high fines for offences that are only deemed to be minor, and overcharge for towed cars.
Motorists will now have to carry their insurance cover note with them while driving, to prove they are covered under insurance if asked by police.
However, the news comes directly after a meeting between the leaders of the Communication Workers Union, to decide when their national postal strike will occur in Britain. This will be the first national postal strike to take place since 2007.
For drivers, the timing could be extremely inconvenient, especially if insured drivers are punished for not carrying their insurance forms due to delays in postal service, as a result of the strike.
Due to the 2007 postal strike, about 200 million items of post ended up in a heap, and took several weeks to finally reach their appropriate recipients.
Local strikes since June have already caused 30 million parcels and letters to backlog.
Police officers can use the Motor and Insurance Bureau database to check if drivers are insured, but the AA is fearful that if there are delays in updating the database, motorists could wrongly have their cars impounded.
A source from the AA said that, at times it can take two to three days until a person’s details are placed in the database.
According to the most recent report by the AA, the M25 is the worst road in the UK when it comes to frequent road closures.
The report states that between the time period of January and August of 2009, the M25 was closed for a total of eight and a half days, which is over 200 hours, because of various incidents and accidents.
Also included in the AA list was the M2 which was closed a total of two days during the same time span.
After releasing the findings the AA is urging the Government to take proactive measures to combat road closures and congestions after accidents occur.
President of the AA Edmund King, stated that Britain needs to be much more advanced in their thinking style, when it comes to how road closures are handled.
King continued to say, that while it is understood that fatalities require investigation, at the same time, the way that traffic and closures are handled as a result, needs to be re-evaluated.
Additionally he stated that while the new rail systems are helpful, it is important to remember they do not solve the problem, since they account for only a small percentage of travellers, and that most people still rely on roadways.
The AA say they are receiving approximately 20 calls a week from various police authorities asking for confirmation of insurance as quite often these drivers with mistaken identity and a genuine licence actually do not have insurance.
It is tough to be a car owner in the current economy with the amount of congestion on the streets increasing, the price of petrol sky rocketing, and more road taxes on their way supposedly after the election.
The AA found that the snow and ice storms that brushed across Britain last week also brought with it an additional rise in car insurance claims.
Research from the AA shows that the cost for comprehensive motor coverage premiums is rising at its fastest rate ever, with a reported 5.6% jump within the first three months of the year to the end of September. 
Motorists will now have to carry their insurance cover note with them while driving, to prove they are covered under insurance if asked by police.
According to the most recent report by the AA, the M25 is the worst road in the UK when it comes to frequent road closures.