Clause 39 - Disclosure of information about insurance status of vehicles
Road Safety Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
How will the clause work in practice? It talks about a register of people who have the right to drive a vehicle and are covered for insurance against third-party risks. Obviously, many of those people can drive vehicles of which they are not the main keeper or the owner as a result of the conditions set out in their insurance, which says that they can drive the car for which they are insured and the vehicle belonging to someone else with their permission, but if they do so they will be insured only for third-party risks.
Let me give a practical example. If I drive my wife's car using my own insurance, how is the information that it is insured for third-party risks conveyed to the register? We have a different system from the continent. In this country, it is the driver rather than the vehicle that is insured.