Legislation requiring motorists to electronically tag their vehicles has been tabled in the House of Assembly.

Bermuda loses an estimated $11 million every five years because it is unable to enforce licensing requirements with up to 5,000 illegal vehicles on the road at any one time.

Government hopes to reduce the number of unlicensed vehicles to less than one percent from the seven to eight percent it stands out now.

The tiny electronic gadgets will be attached to windshield stickers under a system likely to go live next summer.

If a car goes past a reading machine and the tag doesn’t respond correctly the system will take a picture of the car’s licence plate. The system will read the vehicle’s plate numbers and input them into a database so a court summons can be automatically issued.

System implementers 3M have recommended tag reading machines be installed at 20 separate intersections but this has been scaled back to four read points.

David Burt, of project managers GMD, said: “We decided to start small and increase.”

Some have questioned whether the electronic tags will infringe on civil liberties but the Transport Control website said the system is designed to verify information about the vehicle itself, not the driver, and it did not offer an efficient nor effective means for real-time tracking — unless readers were placed along the road at every 20 feet.

Any motorist removing or destroying the tag will be subject to a maximum fine of $10,000 under the Electronic Vehicle Registration Act 2007.

Government has also tabled the Motor Car Amendment Bill 2007 which allows authorities to seize and impound a vehicle being driven without insurance or a licence — or if the driver doesn’t have a driving licence.

The vehicle can be released upon production of the correct documents but if it goes unclaimed after two months authorities can dispose of the vehicle.

Motorists are also liable to be billed for the towing and impounding costs as well as the cost of disposal.