BY LOUISE DOYLE
ALMOST 300 claims relating to accidents caused by uninsured and untraced drivers in Donegal were received by The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) over the last five years.
New figures provided by MIBI reveal the organisation received 287 claims in the county since 2018. Nationally there were over 10,000 claims submitted to the MIBI during this period.
In 2022 there was a total of 47 claims in Donegal which was up by 31 per cent on the comparison for 2021.
Speaking about the claims’ figures, MIBI Chief Executive David Fitzgerald it is law-abiding motorists of Donegal who are left to pick up the tab.
“As these figures highlight there have been more than 280 accidents in Donegal over the last five years where a vehicle without insurance was responsible. The reality is that the cost of these accidents is borne by law-abiding motorists of Donegal and the rest of the country, who effectively have to subsidise these claims every time they renew their motor insurance.
“That means over the last five years the average Donegal motorist has provided an extra €150 – €175 to cover the cost of accidents caused by uninsured and untraced driving.
“Unfortunately, as the number of uninsured vehicles grows, the number of claims relating to accidents caused by uninsured drivers also rise. With the level of uninsured vehicles on Irish roads potentially the highest in the EU, we need to do all we can to discourage people driving illegally without insurance. As the reduction in claims received by the MIBI over the course of the pandemic highlights, when there are fewer journeys undertaken by uninsured drivers the claims figures quickly drop.”
The figures for 2022 also show that the number of claims received by the MIBI grew in 22 of the 26 counties in the Republic.
The largest percentage increases year on year were in Kilkenny (up 70 per cent), Galway (up 59 per cent) and Clare (up 52 per cent). The greatest drop was in Mayo (down 21 per cent), followed by Wexford (down nine per cent) and Westmeath (down four percent).
On a county by county basis, over the last five years, the highest total number of claims received were in Dublin (4,605), Cork (819) and Limerick (617).
However, using the Census 2022 data, the most claims per capita were in Dublin, Louth and Limerick.
The five year figures also show that the number of claims dropped over the course of the pandemic when fewer vehicles, including uninsured vehicles, were on the roads.
However last year the number of claims relating to uninsured and untraced driving grew significantly once again, with the 1,739 received by the MIBI representing a 17 per cent increase on the 2021 numbers.
The MIBI is a not for profit organisation established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.
Earlier this year the MIBI published research showing there were almost 188,000 uninsured private vehicles on Irish roads last year.
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