Breaking News

Car insurance holders 'should get automatic ban for excessive speeding'

03 Feb 2010

Posted by Michael Brown

Car insurance policyholders who are convicted of dangerous driving should have their licences taken off them for good, according to one commentator.

Mike Lowson, writing for the Press and Journal, claimed that "one of the simplest and most cost-effective penalties for inexcusable driving is underused".

He suggested that short driving bans for car insurance policyholders who have been caught speeding excessively are "chicken feed".

"A driving licence is a privilege, not a right," Mr Lowson stressed. "It should be hard-earned and easily lost."

He called for automatic driving bans to be put in place for all excessive speeding offences, suggesting that doing 20mph above the speed limit should result in a five-year ban the first time a driver is caught.

In the second instance, the car insurance policyholder in question should get a ten-year ban.

The government recently introduced new laws to keep disqualified drivers off UK and Irish roads by ensuring that their punishments are upheld if they relocate to the other country.