The winds of change are blowing in California, and if you are one of the nearly 3 million California motorists driving without automobile insurance, you better hold on to your hat.
A few years back, a young woman ran a red light and smashed into my car. She had small, weeping children by her side and no driver?s license. After a frantic phone call, her husband arrived with their insurance information scrawled on a rumpled piece of notebook paper.
I wrote down the information and dutifully reported the incident to my insurance company.
My insurance agent called me back within minutes. The policy information on the crumpled note was bogus. The woman who mangled my vehicle was uninsured.
Many of us shell out a seemingly endless stream of cash year after year in order to comply with mandatory auto insurance laws. We pay the bills and push back our dismay at spending such large sums on something we cannot immediately see or touch.
California legislators now are rolling out a three-phase plan with the sole intent of making uninsured motorists in California a thing of the past.
As of Jan. 1, insurance agencies are required to electronically submit evidence of financial responsibility to the DMV. If your insurance is discontinued for any reason, the DMV will be notified. They will then send you an unpleasant little note along with your registration renewal, requesting that you submit proof of financial responsibility before they will send your new registration.
If you are pulled over on or after July 1 of this year, the excuse that you left your car insurance card in your other pants will no longer fly. As of that date, law enforcement will have access to the current status of your insurance, as well.
The final ax will fall on October 6, 2006. As of that date, the California DMV will be required to suspend the registrations of uninsured motorists.
While some people undoubtedly choose to not have car insurance as some sort of snub to bureaucracy and authority, it's more likely that sky-high auto insurance premiums are simply out of reach for many lower-income drivers.
No worries, though. The state has that base covered for many Californians, as well. As of April 1, the California Low Cost Auto Insurance Program (CLCA), previously available only in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, is being offered to low-income drivers in Alameda, Fresno, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, as well.
The insurance is available from any licensed insurance agent at a cost of just over $300 per year. Lower-income drivers who meet the qualifying guidelines will be able to protect themselves and their families while complying with the law. More information about the program is available at the state Department of Insurance web site, www.insurance.ca.gov .
If you drive into Los Angeles County today, it is estimated that one in four people on the road with you are driving without insurance.
If the new laws work as they are designed to, that will soon not be the case.
Michelle Groh-Gordy is the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online atwww.trafficinteractive.com , and writes a syndicated weekly column on driving for the publications of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
