Any idea how long you’ve been buying car insurance in case of a traffic accident? Any idea how much money you’ve spent adhering to Texas law by being an insured driver? And any idea how many people pay no attention whatsoever to this law and who drive anyway — with no car insurance?

Far too many drivers, that’s how many. In the states largest city, Houston, its believed 15 per cent of drivers using public roads and highways have failed to get the auto insurance required by state law. And this isn’t an oversight, but a choice. Many have received traffic citations for having no insurance but still don’t get any. They plan to take care of their own bills if they’re in a car accident, and even if they caused the wreck, they’ll force insured motorists to cover their own damages.

That’s not only unjust, but may be difficult. When an uninsured driver causes a car accident, an insured driver must seek compensation from his or her own insurer ” and may have trouble getting it. Insurance companies are notoriously stingy, and they get even stingier when their clients file claims because other drivers were at fault and were also uninsured.

Why does this problem persist? Ineffective enforcement is a big reason. In Houston alone, officers have issued 30,000 citations for having no car insurance over the past two years. Yet those same ticketed motorists keep on driving without insurance.

That’s because Houston fails to put any sting into such enforcement. But other cities do, including the Houston-area municipalities of Pasadena and Richmond. Each has begun enforcing the law by impounding the vehicles of those who are caught driving without insurance. Has this worked? There’s nothing like a bare driveway for a motivator. In Richmond, tickets to uninsured drivers have declined by almost one-third since the impounding initiative began. That’s what you call results.

Has this worked? There’s nothing like a bare driveway for a motivator. In Richmond, tickets to uninsured drivers have declined by almost one-third since the impounding initiative began. That’s what you call results.

Yet Houston’s problem persists. And because it does, law-abiding drivers insurance rates increase to overcome the costs of uninsured drivers.

Are you fed up? Then alert your city council that you want uninsured drivers off of our roads. And if an uninsured motorist or any other driver harms you, an auto accident attorney or car accident lawyer can apply extra heat. Your personal injury attorney wont let the guilty drive off without reprisal. Instead, like Pasadena and Richmond, your car accident lawyer can hit offenders where it hurts the most: in the pocketbook. Then these deadbeat drivers will have to get in gear and join the rest of us as legally insured motorists.