The Tennessee Legislature has recently amended the State Insurance Laws to allow police to tow vehicles of uninsured drivers. There is the provision in the law that the officer's agency must first establish a procedure for allowing this.
The Tennessee Statute (T.C.A. 55-12-139) does not give any instructions as to what is to be done with the towed vehicle or how it is to be released. I believe the Legislature's purpose in this law is to require more Tennessee drivers to obtain liability insurance and also to prevent injured motorist from being left without any financial resource for the injuries and damages.
The problem is the Tennessee laws are far too complicated as our Tennessee Legislature seems to avoid the real solutions to this problem.
I personally think that a solution is simple. To begin with, our state needs to require drivers to show proof of insurance before they obtain their driver's license or license tag. This is done in many states effectively.
Presently the Tennessee drivers have to be stopped for a traffic violation or have an accident before the insurance is checked.
Also our state needs to require that all drivers mandatorily carry Uninsured Motorist Coverage. This coverage gives the insured protection if they are struck by an uninsured driver. Their own insurance covers the loss and proceeds to attempt to collect from the uninsured.
Presently Tennessee has the confusing law that Tennessee insureds have to be offered the option of the Uninsured Coverage by their insurance provider but they can sign a wavier waving the Uninsured Motorist Coverage.
The problem here is that many insurance agents don't like Uninsured Coverage because the premiums are low. There are reports that many agents just get the insured to sign the waivers without explaining the potential dangers. Many tell the insured that they need to go ahead and sign the waiver as they already have full coverage. This is only partially true. It's full coverage as required by the state law but it does not fully protect the insured.
Also the insurance company lobbyist lobby the Legislature so as not to require mandatory Uninsured Motorist Coverage. This is because the risks are high with a lot of illegal drivers driving without insurance. Because of that issue it would probably be OK for the state law to be that if a person is not a citizen and has no insurance, that the car can be towed.
So the solution should be, number one, require insurance before a person obtains a driver's license or tag. Number two, require Uninsured Motorist Coverage.
Russell Bean
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Judge Bean thank you for your comments on insurance and uninsured drivers. I was hit last year by an uninsured motorist who was cited for driving too fast for conditions as well. We had just had our new car for six months.
If I had not had uninsured motorist insurance, my repairs would have cost me nearly $20,000 by the time I rented a car and paid the repair shop. Plus we had medical costs that were caused by the contracting seat belt that were covered by our uninsured motorist policy.
Without proof of insurance, no one should be given tags or a driver's license. And the penalty for driving without a license should be a lot steeper than a fine.
Why should responsible people continue having to pay for insurance because lawless and indifferent people don't pay their part?
Ralph Miller