Dallas judge grows frustrated with uninsured drivers
Fines no deterrent, he says; defendants say they can't afford rates
12:34 AM CST on Monday, December 3, 2007

By STEVE THOMPSON / The Dallas Morning News
stevethompson@dallasnews.com
It is 10 a.m. at the Dallas Municipal Courthouse. From his faded wooden dais, Judge Jay Robinson faces yet another defendant accused of driving without insurance.

"You haven't done one hour of community service?" he asks 33-year-old Latonya Polk. She has a batch of violations for speeding and two for driving without insurance.

She asks for more time.

"This is ridiculous," Judge Robinson says, his generally mild-mannered voice rising in irritation. "I have no sympathy for you whatsoever."

The judge denies her request. Ms. Polk turns on her heel, rolls her eyes and takes her seat to wait for the paperwork.

"That judge really did me in," she says afterward.

Each day, dozens of people file into Magistrate Court 10 to take care of a variety of misdemeanor violations � speeding, code violations, public intoxication.

But as many as half of them, Judge Robinson estimates, have one violation in common: They've been caught driving without insurance.

They are among the more than 3 million uninsured motorists in Texas. They arrive one after the other, in T-shirts, in sports jackets, in blouses, in reflective road-worker vests.

So many that Judge Robinson seems exhausted by them all.

"It just does not seem to be a deterrent in many cases to impose a fine only," the judge said recently. "It's frustrating in that so many of them, when I ask them, are still driving without insurance."

The law allows fines from $175 to $350 against those caught driving without insurance. Those low on cash, like Ms. Polk, may perform community service instead.

Such penalties can seem paltry next to what Texas motorists pay to protect against those without coverage � nearly $900 million a year, the insurance industry estimates.

Two years ago, lawmakers authorized a system to crack down on Texans who drive without valid insurance. They're still waiting.

Although a contractor has been selected to operate the new auto insurance verification program, officials said the database needs more work and won't be ready until early 2008 � more than a year after it was supposed to launch.

Many people assume illegal Mexican immigrants, who have difficulty getting insurance, are at the root of the uninsured-motorist problem.

"That is a problem among several, but it is not the predominant problem," said Dallas' chief municipal prosecutor, Johnanna Greiner.

Other reasons
Some can't get it because they've had too many accidents or tickets, Ms. Greiner said. But the most common reason: Many people just can't afford it. The cost for auto liability coverage in Texas averages about $500 per year.

Ms. Polk, with a tear falling down her cheek after court, spoke of how hard it can be as a single mom � raising five kids, holding down a job, paying for gas and groceries, and making an insurance payment on top of everything else.

No money for insurance one month, and what is she supposed to do? Quit driving to work? Not go pick up the kids?

But tell that to someone involved in a crash with a driver who carries no insurance.

"They shouldn't be on the road if they don't have insurance," said 36-year-old Maria Guzman of Dallas, who says she has been hit several times by uninsured drivers. The authorities "should go ahead and have that vehicle towed. I mean, really, that's what makes everybody else's rates go up," she said.

Up the fines
Ms. Guzman, like many, also suggests raising the fines.

But the prosecutor, Ms. Greiner, doubts that would really deter people.

"If these people can't afford insurance right now," Ms. Greiner said, "upping the fines is not going to make it less common."

Last year, the Dallas City Council ordered police to impound uninsured vehicles involved in crashes. Several other area cities have done the same.

At least one council member, Mitchell Rasansky, argued that the ordinance didn't go far enough.

"We're waiting for an accident � smack! � to happen." he said, slapping his hands together at a council meeting. "I'd confiscate the car when they're stopped for a traffic violation."

But more severe penalties come with their own sets of problems.

"Arresting everybody who doesn't have insurance, or impounding their cars, is going to max out the [auto] pounds and the jails very quickly," Ms. Greiner said. "It's very frustrating."

It is a privilege to drive, not a right-- a luxury, not a necessity.
On the second conviction, the cars should be forfeit and subject to sale in the following month's auction.

JAS

Depending upon availability of mass transit, driving may be a necessity.
However, forfeiture will certainly be more effective than increased fines. Are any States trying other alternatives?

Even in the US, I don't believe driving is a necessity. It is a convenience, and alternatives exist such as moving, hiring taxis, using mass transit, bicycling, or walking. Plenty of people prove this is so abroad and in the US.

JAS

The Onion has has store with this scary bumper sticker:


Here is the link in case hotlinking the image fails:

http://store.theonion.com/jesus-is-my-car-insurance-p-117.html

Many of these defendants should be driving with suspended licenses once they've been ticketed a couple times for no insurance. That used to be a jailable offense until they made DWLS a Class C, but a second conviction for DWLS is a Class B. So maybe on their fourth no insurance ticket they might be looking at jail time.

BTW, doesn't this seem like the same old story? The complaint was that the jails were full of people in custody for DWLS, so the leg reduced the crime to Class C. Now, the complaint is that nothing can be done under the law to curb the rash of uninsured drivers. So if we make driving without insurance a Class B, the complaint will be that the jails are too full of uninsured drivers...

Yes, insurance is an expense. And having no insurance leads to various offenses such as Fictitious/ Counterfeit inspection stickers, expired registrations, and DWLI.

But get this: we had a defendant arrested for DWLI who said his license was suspended because he couldn't afford the $250 surcharge to clear it. The surcharge, of course, was from having no insurance.

When they patted him down, officers found $600 in cash in his pocket.

I say, if you drive you must carry insurance. No excuses. Get a bike or walk.