OAI: La. Bill Highlights Penalties for Driving without Auto Insurance

Baton Rouge, La. (PRWEB) March 28, 2012

A recently proposed Louisiana bill that requires police to inform the public of checkpoints verifying proof of insurance is headed to the state House for debate, a development Online Auto Insurance says highlights the strict penalties for driving without coverage in the Pelican State.

The legislation, HB 713, would apply the same procedural and publicity guidelines for current insurance and seat belt stops to motor vehicle inspection sticker stops. It would also require authorities to inform a local radio or TV broadcast and newspaper outlet about all checkpoints and the parish where they will be hosted. The bill was unanimously approved by the Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works and is headed to the state House for further consideration.

OAI recommends that motorists be aware of penalties for driving without a proper policy, as the recent Louisiana bill reaffirms the severity with which authorities deal with the problem. A search for car insurance quotes online might return relatively high prices for Louisiana residents, but driving without a policy may be even costlier.

That's because Louisiana has an especially strict "no pay, no play" law that bars uninsured motorists involved in a crash from collecting compensation from the other party for the first $15,000 of bodily injury damages and the first $25,000 of property damages, even if the other party was at fault for the accident. Those damages would normally be covered by the at-fault party's liability policy.

But the bar to recovery isn't the only penalty for uninsured motorists. A first offense of driving without a policy in Louisiana could include up to a $175 fine, and the fine for subsequent offenses can reach $500.

Source: http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88472

Thirteen percent of motorists in Louisiana in 2009 drove uninsured, according to estimates from the Insurance Research Council, a small uptick from the 12 percent rate in 2007. Both percentages were below the national average rate of uninsured motorists, which was about 13.8 percent in both 2007 and 2009. The Bayou State has the 22nd highest rate of uninsured motorists in the U.S.

To learn more about this, go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/ to find state-by-state comparisons of rates and an easy-to-use quote generator.

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