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?
