A third of Irish drivers involved in fatal collisions have no insurance, according to the Road Safety Authority.

It analysed seven years’ worth of crash reports from the Gardaí, and also found excessive speed was a factor in 322 road deaths between 2008 and 2012.

The AA says up to 8%of cars on the road at any one time are not insured, as the costs of insurance premiums have risen by up to a third in the past year

The AA’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan, has said we need to get rid of paper insurance discs, and bring in an electronic system similar to the UK: “It’s absolutely worthless and yet it gets relied upon.

“What we need to do is what has been done by the same insurance companies in the UK and further afield, move to a proper database system so that now if a guard or any camera sees a registration number going by, they can instantly check the database and know if that car is insured and who is insured to drive it.

“It is really important that we bring in that pretty basic piece of 21st century technology.”