No Insurance, No Car

Councilman Kevin Wolff has a new name for motorists who drive without car insurance--pedestrians.



The northside councilman is considering introducing an ordinance that would authorize police to tow the vehicles of motorists who are stopped for any reason and turn out not to be carrying a valid car insurance policy, leaving the drivers stranded on the side of the road, 1200 WOAI news reported today. Before the motorists could get their cars back, they would have to pay the towing fee, the fine for violating the state's mandatory insurance law, and prove they have insurance.



"It burns me up every time I hear about drivers causing an accident who doesn't have insurance, because, you know what, I carry insurance," Wolff told 1200 WOAI's Bud Little.



Several north Texas communities, including the Dallas suburbs of Mesquite and Irving, have recently approved similar mandatory towing ordinances.



"In theory, I love the sound of that," Wolff said. "But what I want to look into is the logistics...where we would tow the cars, and how we would store them."



Uninsured motorists cost Texans millions of dollars each year, even though drivers have been required since 1991 to carry insurance.



"We estimate that between twenty and twenty five percent of all drivers do not carry liability insurance," Jerry Johns of the Southwest Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, says. "When you get closer to the border with Mexico, that number goes up to fifty percent of more."



A measure recently approved by the legislature would allow police to access insurance records by typing in car license plates, the same way they can currently access criminal records. But many motorists get around the mandatory insurance law by buying policies good for a day or a week, then allowing them to lapse after they have renewed their registrations.



"Under these measures, the car is towed if the car is stopped for a traffic violation or an accident, and they do not have insurance," Johns said.



Wolff said he will look into introducing his measure after he talks with police and other agencies about the potential costs to the city of a mandatory towing policy.