Saturday, July 03, 1999
State to maintain insurance checks
Despite complaints, random notices stay
BY CHARLEY GILLESPIE
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Over the past six months, more than 14,000 Ohio drivers failed to prove they were insured after being checked in random mailings by the state. Of that number, about half had their license suspended.
Starting Monday, the state will go after the rest.
After numerous complaints that people missed their notices, the state will begin sending them by certified mail. Drivers who don't respond within two weeks will have their licenses immediately suspended for 90 days.
The state will also monitor those drivers for up to five years to make sure they stay insured.
“There are some people that are very hard to get ahold of,” said David Cooke, assistant chief of public information for the Ohio Department of Public Safety. “But for the most part, people check their mail.
“If you have insurance and for some reason you get your license suspended, it is very easy to notify the proper authorities and get your suspension lifted,” he said.
Sen. Leigh Herington, D-Ravenna, unsuccessfully sought to kill the random-check program.
“I know of some cases in which people improperly lost their licenses. Part of that is mix-up of people or address problems,” he said.
What's more, the senator says he almost lost his own license, realizing three days before a deadline that the bureau had rejected his sending in his daughter's insurance card for a car registered in his name that she was using and for which she was paying the premiums.
“It's just an example of "one size doesn't fit all,'” Mr. Herington said Thursday.
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles began sending notices in December to about one in every 20 registered drivers, selected at random statewide, demanding they prove they have liability insurance to cover damage for accidents they may cause.
As of June 21, the state sent 127,944 notices. Of that number, 14,067, or 11 percent, failed to show proof of insurance or did not respond in time; but only 7,692 had their licenses suspended.
“We have been very lenient and tried to work with people, and most people have insurance and can prove it in a very short period of time with little inconvenience,” Mr. Cooke said.
Of the state's 5.6 million registered motorists, about 280,000 will be randomly selected this year to prove they are insured.
Those selected receive a form to fill out proving they have the appropriate coverage.
Besides providing copies of an insurance policy or insurance identification card, drivers can send in a copy of a bond or other legal form of coverage of financial responsibility for accident liability.
The random checks have support in the insurance industry, which has helped advertise the crackdown.
“A big problem in Ohio is that some drivers would get insurance the day before they register their vehicle or go to traffic court,” said Dan Kelso, president of the Ohio Insurance Institute. “Then shortly after showing proof, they drop the policy or just don't pay the premiums.”
He said the threat of a random check helps close that “major loophole.”
In the past, Ohio authorities checked for insurance only when motorists were stopped for violations. About 1.7 million motorists are checked by that method each year and more than 300,000 licenses have been suspended since the law requiring insurance took effect in 1995.
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