I vexed with the lack of enforcement
of Anguilla’s road traffic and insurance laws.
To save a few dollars, some car rental agencies and taxi drivers cut
corners and use uninsured and unlicensed vehicles to ply their trade. And nobody does anything about it. Yes, you heard me right: uninsured and unlicensed vehicles are freely
driving about the country, and none of them is stopped or prosecuted. So, I heard on the radio government is going
to introduce new policies, laws, and regulations to control the use of “P”,
“R”, and “C” licensed vehicles as taxis.
In December, a visitor friend of mine
went to his favourite car rental agency to rent a vehicle for the month he was
in Anguilla. He telephoned me to come
and help. The owner of the car rental
agency offered to rent him a car with a “P” licence plate. The visitor wanted to know from me if that
was legal.
I went to the car rental company and
asked to see the vehicle. Sure enough,
it had a “P” licence plate.
First, I asked the proprietor if he
had insurance to rent out such a vehicle.
He replied that he did it every day.
I asked him if he did not know it was illegal. But it was insured, he insisted. I tried to explain that a private vehicle
insurance is cancelled if you rent it out.
It was illegal for him to rent out such a car, and it was illegal for
the visitor to drive such a car on the public road.
You need go no further than examine
your own certificate of insurance. If it
is a MAICO policy, as mine is, it is on the first page under paragraph “6.
Limitations as to use”. It clearly
states that the vehicle is insured for, “Use only for social, domestic and
pleasure purposes and for the Policy Holder’s business or profession. THE POLICY DOES NOT COVER:- Use for hire or
reward, rentals, racing, pacemaking, reliability trial, speed testing or use
for any purpose in connection with the Motor Trade.”
The meaning is clear. If you are found to have rented out your “P” or
“C” licensed vehicle, or used it for taxiing, your insurance policy is
cancelled. You are now driving it
without insurance. That is a criminal
offence under the laws of Anguilla carrying with it a hefty fine and term of
imprisonment. The tourist is committing
the same offence and is liable to similar criminal sanctions.
So, you are driving an uninsured
vehicle. If you are caught renting out
or using as a taxi a “P” or “C” licensed vehicle so that the insurance policy
is void, the penalty used to be a fine of up to EC$1,000.00 or 3 months’
imprisonment. It is probably more now.
And, once your insurance is void and
as a result your vehicle is unregistered you and the tourist driver commit a
further offence. The fine is even
greater. It used to be up to $9,600.00
or 3 months’ imprisonment. It is
probably more now.
The rationale behind these regulations
is obvious. When you negotiate with your
insurer for cover for a “P” licensed vehicle, the insurer quotes you a premium
based on the promise that only you or someone you give permission to will use
the vehicle. The risk is small. The premium is low.
If you are going to use your vehicle
as a commercial vehicle with a “C” licence plate, valuable goods may be
damaged. The risk for the insurer is
greater, so the premium will be greater than for a ”P” licensed vehicle.
If you are going to use the vehicle
as a taxi, the risk for the insurer is even greater, so the premium is
greater. It is the same with the
registration fees.
The annual fee for licensing a “P”
vehicle is low. A commercial licence
costs more because you are driving it up and down the road all day long and
causing more damage to the highway.
Also, you are making money from the vehicle. So, you must pay government more money. The registration fees are even more if it is
a taxi.
It is a criminal offence punishable
with fine or imprisonment for a taxi driver to use an “R” or a “P” or a “C” licensed
vehicle as a taxi. It is a criminal
offence for a car rental company to rent out a “P” licensed vehicle. And the driver can be charged with the same
offence.
It is even worse. The day a visitor is seriously injured in a
rental car and has his case against the insurance company for compensation
dismissed because he was driving a vehicle without the correct insurance, we
will never hear the end of it. Senators
in the United States will ask questions of the US government. Why are they not warning citizens to stay
from an unregulated, bandit country such as Anguilla is? We know how quickly that can happen.
So far as I can tell, there are
dozens of unlicensed and uninsured vehicles driving about our roads with
impunity. The problem in Anguilla is not
the need for more laws and regulations.
The problem is lack of enforcement of our existing laws and
regulations. Neither the police nor the
government seem interested in enforcing our driving laws.
We know the reason. We don’t want to turn innocent Anguillians
into criminals. So, we don’t enforce the
existing road traffic laws.
So, tell me, how is that situation going
to change by making new laws and regulations?
