As the recession refuses to end, we continue to see reported levels of unemployment staying above 9%. When you see the national figure, remember this only counts the number of people claiming benefit. The real number of people without work is significantly higher. Without regular pay checks coming in, family budgets are under serious pressure. Because driving is often the only way of getting from A to B – public transport being little more than a bad joke in most areas – this puts people in a bind. Most would prefer to stay legal on the road. They start to make economies by not replacing their vehicles as they get older. Then they decide not to have the routine maintenance and repairs done. If money is still short, the only decision left is driving without insurance. In some states, it’s estimated up to 20% of all vehicles on the road are uninsured. The majority of the other vehicles are underinsured, i.e. if there was an accident, the amount claimable under the policies would not be enough to pay all the bills.
The idea of mandatory insurance first appeared because state governments thought we should all be financially responsible, i.e. have enough money available to compensate anyone we injured through our bad driving. Put this the other way round. Suppose you are sitting quietly in your yard behind a fence and a drunk driver loses control of his car, crashes into your fence, and puts you in hospital. How would you feel if you had to pay all your own medical expenses and the cost of replacing your fence? You would be more than just angry if it turned out this driver had no insurance. Yet, there’s a one-in-five chance in some states that you will be in that position. Why is this allowed to happen?
It’s a policy problem. If the police are to be more effective in catching uninsured motorists, they must have online access to all the databases dealing with vehicle licensing and insurance. This will require software changes and extra cost. The law enforcement agencies must also agree to devote manpower to find out who’s uninsured and then prosecute. With access to all the information, it’s easy to sweep through a neighborhood and ticket every vehicle known to be uninsured. If these people don’t appear in court, they can be arrested. If they fail to pay the fines, the vehicles can be impounded and the owners can be sent to jail. Yet elected officials think all this is bad politics. If they actively enforce this law, they may be voted out of office at the next election. [...]
