Florida in Dire Need of Auto Insurance Reform
There are approximately six and a half million auto accidents each year in the United States. Of these six and a half million, approximately three million result in injuries, two million of which are permanent injuries. There are nearly 40,000 deaths each year resulting from auto accidents; that's one death every 13 minutes.
Auto insurance is designed to provide protection against some of the financial liabilities associated with auto accidents. In most states, failure to have adequate auto insurance coverage is illegal; however, there are a number of states in which auto insurance laws are lax and in dyer need of reform. One such state is Florida.
Auto insurance reform needed, too
Russell Rein
Looks like Florida should erect new signs at its borders in October: Welcome to Florida -- Drive at Your Own Risk/No Insurance Required.
Florida's current no-fault auto insurance scheme, created by the Legislature in the 1970s at the behest of the insurance lobby, is so fraught with problems that even the insurance companies disagree on what needs to be done to fix it.
The scheme is scheduled to automatically "sunset" in October unless it is renewed or replaced during the upcoming special legislative session (it is not on the session's present agenda).
Florida is one of only 14 states using a "no fault" scheme for auto insurance. Most shocking is that the Sunshine State is one of only three states that does not require bodily injury liability insurance (unless you have already injured someone in a wreck or get convicted of driving under the influence).
The state requires vehicle owners to have insurance to pay for damage to the other person's car, but not to their body (even if the victim dies). Current enforcement of the insurance requirement is lax.
What this all means is that if you choose to operate a motor vehicle in Florida, you must run -- not walk -- to your insurance agent and purchase sufficient uninsured motorist coverage to protect yourself from the many drivers in our area operating without insurance.
Unfortunately, despite the system's obvious flaws, there does not appear to be any present desire in the Legislature to make the changes necessary to ensure that Florida drivers have some protection against injuries caused by the carelessness of others.
So what should the Legislature do? At a minimum, before October, our lawmakers should act to ensure Florida joins the other 47 states requiring minimal bodily injury liability insurance to operate a motor vehicle on its roads (including a strict mechanism to get vehicles off the road if, between registration dates, the insurance is cancelled for non-payment or other reasons). The amount of coverage should be sufficient (at least $25,000) to cover the minimal medical bills generated in an accident.
The current choice -- doing nothing -- is a recipe for disaster. The cost of accidents will be increasingly shifted onto taxpayers and medical providers as medical bills go unpaid and Medicaid and welfare usage increase dramatically.
More than the economic damages, untold suffering and unnecessary permanent disability will impose an unconscionable human toll. Florida simply cannot afford the choice of doing nothing.
The Legislature's failure to act would become Florida's shame, putting it into Third World-nation status with more crippled and maimed citizens simply because they cannot get the medical care and support they need to fully recover.
Russell Rein is an attorney with Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis and Overholtz in Gulf Breeze. He lives in Gonzalez in Escambia County.
The attorneys of the Law Office of Justice Lawyers are personal injury lawyers in Pensacola who protect victims of auto accidents, personal injury, wrongful death, defective drugs, consumer fraud, insurance fraud, product defects and defective medical devices, such as Guidant and Medtronic Pacemakers, and potentially harmful drugs, such as Ortho Evra. When you think of the top personal injury lawyers or car accident lawyers in Pensacola, think of Justice Lawyers.