Scott Doyle Verified

Why the QQ'ing over 1.5%? If you're insured, you obviously have nothing to worry about aside from the inconvenience of proving it. If you're one of these 15 out of 1,000 peeps who don't match up and the cop thinks your proof might be fraudulent, then you'll have paperwork to do before you're off the hook.

The benefits of this program far outweigh the inconvenience of a very small percentage. Per the DMN article linked above:

• About 20 to 25 percent of drivers – as many as 4 million Texans – are uninsured, according to state officials and the insurance industry. The state has roughly 16 million drivers.

• A study conducted for the insurance and public safety departments indicated that in the 27 states that use similar insurance verification systems, the average percentage of uninsured motorists before the program was about 26 percent. After it was implemented, the number dropped to less than 10 percent.

Not to mention, they're mailing everyone who the database indicates is uninsured...if you get a notice and you're insured, you'll know to contact someone about it. I've ranted before about people's accountability (or lack thereof) - there's a margin of error in anything we do, and this very small one takes a back-seat to curbing 10% or more of uninsured drivers.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Clay, this is Texas. We're going to get money from you if at all possible, THEN suspend your license and take your wheels.

A ticket will be issued to violators, subjecting them to a fine of $175 to $350 on the first offense. The fines jump on the second and third offenses – $350 to $1,000 – and the third offense can result in suspension of the driver's license and impoundment of the vehicle. Those who ignore the fines are subject to arrest.

That's in the section titled "Counterfeit cards" but I believe those are the fines/penalties of any drivers caught without insurance. Note they arrest you for not paying the fines, but only suspend your license if you pay up and are a repeat offender. Makes perfect (fiscal) sense.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Related DMN story about whether Dallas po-lice should impound cars if the driver in a routine traffic stop has no proof of insurance.

Doyle votes Yes.

Opposition believes this would target racial and ethnic minorities, to which I say "You're doing it wrong." It's clearly targeting anybody useless enough to not even obtain the bare minimum of state-mandated insurance. The rest is a coincidence, imo.

If certain races or ethnicities comprise a large margin of the ~75,000 annual citations for no proof of insurance, so be it. How ever you want to compile stats pointing out that one group of people is less insured than others, go nuts. That shouldn't excuse them from stiffer consequences of not taking responsibility.

Clearly tickets are not getting the job done if an estimated 1 out of 4 drivers are uninsured. Take their ride.

1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Having insurance is just a cost of having a car.

Precisely. Vonciel Jones Hill, council member for District 5, apparently disagrees with this notion:

"This is not a racial issue, it's an economic issue. People don't have insurance because they can't afford it," Ms. Hill said, adding that impounding poor people's cars creates cyclical problems where they are stripped of their ability to work, and therefore, to earn money.

Andrew makes a good point against this in his 3rd paragraph: An impounded car has no affect on most people's ability to work...it simply prevents them from getting around as conveniently as they used to.

Owning and operating a vehicle isn't a right at all, it's a privilege that can and will be stripped from you if you're not responsible. Otherwise we wouldn't have to bother with licensing, etc.

I bet a good amount of uninsured drivers could afford liability-only minimum limits if they simply budgeted for it (presuming they don't ram into things every other day). At the very least, an uninsured driver whose vehicle has out of date inspection should be impounded.

1 year, 7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )