Dallas police to crack down on uninsured motorists starting January 1

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — Drivers with no proof of insurance will have their vehicles towed under a new policy that goes into effect Jan. 1. On that date, the Dallas Police Department will enforce the Uninsured Motorist Ordinance approved by the Dallas City Council on May 28.

Under this ordinance drivers stopped for a traffic violation who cannot show proof of auto insurance meeting state requirements will be issued a citation and will have his or her vehicle towed at the owner's expense to the Dallas Auto Pound. The City already tows the vehicles of uninsured drivers involved in traffic accidents.

"The Dallas Police Department currently issues about 75,000 citations a year to motorists with no auto insurance," said Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle. "In addition, officers towed over 3000 vehicles from accident scenes in 2007 where the driver did not have insurance. Motorists are urged to obtain the proper state required auto insurance to avoid having their vehicles towed."

The new ordinance is in response to the large number of people driving in the City of Dallas without the proper state required auto insurance. These uninsured drivers place an unfair burden on those who comply with state law and maintain auto insurance. With the new ordinance, the city anticipates fewer of these citations as more drivers comply with the law to avoid having their vehicles towed.

Source: City of Dallas

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Christin Richard, says:

What if a motorist is earnestly insured, but inadvertently forgets to place the most up-to-date documents into the glove box, or has misplaced those documents without realizing it until a Terry Stop? For this new ordinance to remove unfair burden, it needs to employ a system that can verify whether a motorist is ensured absent of documentation, much as an officer is able to cross-reference whether or not a motorist has a current drivers license in the absence of having identification within reach. This was an issue that dissenters brought forth in deliberations of City Council, but I wasn't confident that they had worked out all of the hypothetical "what ifs".

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1 year ago
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Travis Bush, says:

Well, there is TexasSure and DPD has access to that. They might be able to get away with fining you for not having physical proof, but it isn't like they can't find out whether or not you have insurance.

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1 year ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

^ Truf.

PegNews articles regarding TexasSure and its statewide expansion can be found <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/sep/04/texas-department-insurance-implement-uninsured-dri/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/dec/10/uninsured-motorist-detection-program-roll-out-aust/">here </a>.