10,197 uninsured drivers get penalized

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state has suspended the drivers' licenses of 10,197 Missourians during a nearly 2-year-old crackdown on uninsured motorists.

Since January 2002, the Missouri Driver and Vehicle Services Bureau has sent 6,000 letters a month to motorists asking them to provide proof of insurance for a specific vehicle or an explanation of why the vehicle isn't insured. Failure to do so results in the indefinite suspension of driving privileges.

Letter recipients are randomly selected from a monthly pool of approximately 82,000 vehicle owners whose insurance records, as reported by their insurance companies, show some discrepancies.

Gary Stanley of Cape Girardeau was shocked to receive such a letter last month. Especially disturbing to Stanley was the fact that the state was threatening his license over a car he never owned.

The vehicle in question had once been registered in his daughter's name, but she had traded it in for another car in July.

"I was literally appalled at how inaccurate their information was," Stanley said. "With today's technology, I can't understand why they can't track it better."

The letter gave him two weeks to respond or face sanctions. Stanley promptly called the license bureau to explain his situation and was informed Monday that the matter had been resolved. However, he remains concerned that some innocent Missourians might be wrongly punished given the tight timetable.

"Obviously, if you had been out of town or were serving overseas in the National Guard and someone was not taking care of these things at home, it would really wreak havoc," Stanley said.

Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said the reason for the short time period is to stress the importance of compliance.

If the license bureau, which is part of the revenue department, doesn't receive a response to the initial letter, a second letter is sent informing the driver of the exact day the license suspension will take effect if he or she doesn't comply.

Unfortunately, there have been a handful of instances where licenses were suspended because the drivers were out of town for extended periods and unaware of the notices. Robinson said there have been fewer than 10 such cases.

"In those few circumstances where it has happened, the suspension record is completely erased," Robinson said.

The $20 fee for license reinstatement is also waived in those instances.

State law has long required drivers to carry automobile liability insurance and to show proof of insurance when obtaining vehicle license plates. Because vehicles need to be registered only every one or two years, however, some motorists attempt to circumvent the requirement by allowing their coverage to lapse once they obtain plates.

Identifying such uninsured motorists was the intent of a 1999 law, which was modified a year later, that authorized the license bureau to randomly check for compliance. The bureau began the checks in 2002.

If people had insurance on a certain vehicle for three consecutive months and then didn't for the three following months, their names are placed in a pool of potential letter recipients. The reason insurance was dropped could be completely innocent, such as the vehicle was sold or is no longer in use.

"Those are circumstances that are 100 percent understandable and 100 percent acceptable," Robinson said.

Robinson acknowledged that the tracking system isn't perfect but is constantly being refined. Robinson said Stanley, rather than his daughter, likely received the notice because she was insured under the family policy.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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