ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALBERT C. HENDRICKS
WHY ARE car owners in Virginia required to purchase automobile-liability insurance? This insurance is a required, unnecessary expense that places a very real burden on all of us. Let's look at the facts:
A good number of automobile accidents involve only one vehicle; therefore, liability insurance plays no role.
In an accident involving two or more cars in Virginia, someone is at ``fault.'' The liability insurance of the person at fault must pay for damages to the other person. The other person in the accident receives nothing from the person deemed ``faultless.''
The person at fault isn't completely protected, however, since the faultless person can still sue the person at fault for more than the liability insurance pays the faultless person.
nIf your liability insurance lapses for any reason or if your insurance company drops you, two costly things occur: If the state finds that you don't have liability insurance, it can impose a fine of $350. Or 30 days after your insurance lapses, you become a high-risk driver, even though you have a spotless driving record. Once you become a high-risk driver (this designation lasts for five years), your insurance rate just about triples.
Automobile insurance should be no-fault, optional insurance. Each time any of us drive a car, we know there's a chance we'll be involved in an accident. We knowingly accept this. Therefore, when an accident occurs, we should be willing to accept the responsibility of our actions. This argument obviously excludes illegal drivers who should be punished when they break the law.
Accidents, by definition, are situations that can be prevented. And one way they could be prevented is simply not to drive. However, we don't knowingly cause accidents. Therefore, knowing accidents will happen and that people don't plan them, we should all be considered at fault when we have one. By purchasing no-fault insurance that covers our car and the occupants, then we're being responsible for our actions.
If you choose not to buy automobile insurance, that should also be acceptable. Many of us already carry no-fault, optional insurance - it's called comprehension and collision insurance.
So, who benefits when the state requires its citizens to purchase liability insurance? Certainly not the citizens, since less than half of the drivers involved in accidents will receive payments from liability insurance. Liability insurance is obviously different in this way from other types of insurance, since all holders of regular insurance policies will receive payments when something occurs that's covered by the policy. For instance, if your house burns and you have fire insurance, you collect the money. This is no-fault, optional insurance.
Insurance companies obviously are the primary beneficiaries. They'll pay out on less than half the accidents that occur. Once you have an accident or a traffic violation, your rates go up. If you're placed in the high-risk category, the costs of your liability insurance will triple.
Again, why are car owners in Virginia required to purchase automobile-liability insurance? It makes insurance companies a lot of money. So what else is new?
Albert C. Hendricks of Christiansburg is a biology professor at Virginia Tech.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB