Distracted driving, speeding and inexperience are all reasons why auto accidents occur. And, many times, drivers who are at-fault are uninsured or underinsured which makes it even harder for Texas car accident victims to pursue a cause of action to help pay, for instance, medical bills and lost wages. But new data shows that in just one year, the number of uninsured drivers in Texas has dropped significantly.
According to the Texas Department of Insurance, statistics from June 2012 show that the number of uninsured Texas drivers without insurance declined almost 40 percent since last year. The numbers show that 13 percent of drivers did not have the requisite auto insurance in June; down from 22 percent reported last year.
Jerry Hagins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, points to a few factors behind the decline.
First, Hagins attributes the decrease to the revamp of the state's driver insured-uninsured database known as TexasSure. After taking a closer look, the information in the database was found to be incorrect. Vehicles sold or traded were listed as registered to the original owners and thus had no insurance coverage. This has since been corrected.
Second, Hagins says proactive measures have been implemented to get uninsured drivers to comply with the law. In 2009, the Texas Insurance Department started sending out letters to drivers with registered vehicles on file with no adjoined insurance policies to request insurance verification. The letters stipulated that drivers will be fined and lose their license if their vehicles do not carry the mandatory auto insurance under Texas law.
The agency also attributes the decline to ordinances in place in cities across the state that tow vehicles stopped by police or involved in auto accidents that are found to be uninsured.
Today, it is estimated that Texas drivers pay $1 billion per year in extra coverage to protect themselves from at-fault drivers who are uninsured.
Source: Insurance Journal, Number Of Uninsured Drivers On Texas Roads Drops, July 5, 2012
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