new regulation
Police officers can see for themselves whether a vehicle is correctly insured by consulting a computer database
17.10.08 - 14:46 -
CHANGE. Now there’s no obligation to carry insurance papers. / SUR
As from this week drivers will no longer have to search in their glove compartments for their insurance papers if stopped by an officer of the law. The new Obligatory Car Insurance Regulation, approved recently by government ministers, states that from now on it will be up to the Guardia Civil or Police officers themselves to check that a vehicle has valid insurance by consulting the Insured Vehicle Computer Database (FIVA).
The main aim of the new regulations is to improve financial protection for the victims of traffic accidents by making the cover provided by obligatory insurance practically unlimited. It also aims to simplify the administrative process of dealing with an accident and aspects concerning the payment of damages awarded.
The President of Associated European Motorists, Mario Arnaldo, has praised the changes. “It didn’t make sense for traffic officers to waste their time and inconvenience drivers asking for insurance receipts when all insurance firms have been obliged to put their clients’ details on the database on a daily basis since 1995”, he said.
Arnaldo added that drivers have faced fines of 60 euros for not being able to show their insurance papers, a fine that the expert describes as “unfair”, “as you can’t penalise a driver for failing to show information that the authorities already have”, he continued, encouraging drivers with fines for failing to produce these papers to appeal against them.
Meanwhile the Government is being asked to modify the law so that it is no longer obligatory to carry a set of spare headlamp, brake light and indicator bulbs plus the tools required to change them. The reason for this is that new cars are fitted with xenon lights which have to be changed by a mechanic, making the regulation “obsolete”, as the head of the Traffic Department, Pere Navarro, explained.
