The percentage of uninsured drivers in the United States has come down to 13.5% from the earlier 14.9%* as a result of focused efforts made in the beginning of 2010. These positive results can be attributed to a concerted effort by various states to promote public safety across the country. This is certainly a welcome trend, considering that earlier legislative actions to bring down the number of uninsured motorists were relatively slow to show results.
This trend, which has been mapped by the Insurance Research Council, takes into account the number of insurance claims filed by individuals, and calculates the ratio of insurance claims filed by individuals injured by insured motorists versus number of claims from individuals injured by uninsured motorists.
Experts are of the opinion that although the above ratio has been showing some improvement each year, indicating a gradual reduction in the number of uninsured motorists across various states, the marked improvement in 2010 can well be attributed to the specific measures taken in the first two months of the year.
Here are some measures adopted by states in the beginning of the year: implementation of online car insurance verification systems that track the number of uninsured drivers; enforcement of stringent measures like making it mandatory for all motorists to carry auto liability policies before driving – a measure that was even backed by budget allocations in Wisconsin recently. Another interesting example is from the state of California that makes low cost policies available to motorists from lesser-income families. All that is required of motorists to avail this premium policy is to submit their proof of income and driving record requirements. By promoting policies customized to different income groups, states can hope to significantly increase the number of insured motorists.
The state of Louisiana, in turn, has raised the minimum auto insurance limit requirements. From 1 January 2010, the minimum policy limit for cars went up to 15/30/25 from 10/20/10. According to these new limits, the requirement is $15,000 coverage for body injury or death, $25,000 for damage to property and a maximum limit of $30,000 per accident. In addition to this, 49 states in the United States and the District of Columbia firmly observe compulsory liability insurance; only New Hampshire currently doesn’t have a law that makes it compulsory to have auto insurance liability.
Consumer advocacy groups firmly believe that a number of laws like these were instrumental in implementing stricter auto insurance requirements across the United States, and will go a long way in effectively promoting more effective auto insurance in 2010.
* Study made by Insurance Research Council
