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  • 2012-08-20 (xsd:date)
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  • Dallas Uninsured Motorist Crackdown (en)
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  • According to the Texas Department of Insurance, as of August 2012, more than one in four vehicles in Dallas County are uninsured, the highest percentage in any of the state's large urban counties. Since 2009, Dallas has been trying to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on its roads by passing and enforcing an ordinance which authorizes police officers to impound any vehicle stopped for a traffic violation if the driver cannot furnish proof of insurance. E-mails on this subject like the ones quoted above began circulating in October 2010. While they reflect some truths about the treatment of uninsured motorists in that city, they also boldly state some outright falsehoods. Enforcement of the revised Sec 28-4 (Authority to Remove Vehicles) of the Dallas City Code took effect on 1 January 2009. While police officers may use their discretion in applying the law (as some did in January 2009 when the weather in that city was particularly bad), the law authorizes the impoundment of uninsured vehicles and the imposition of fines upon their drivers (up to $350 for the first offense and up to $1,000 for the second offense, with those guilty of multiple offenses who take no action becoming subject to arrest). The relevant portions of that city's Ordinance 27189 regarding impoundment of uninsured vehicles states: (In the above passage, financial responsibility equates to proof of insurance.) The costs levied against those whose vehicles were so impounded are specified as follows: Dallas also uses TexasSure, the state's vehicle insurance verification system, which maintains a database containing the names of all insured drivers and the names of their insurers, their license plate registration information, and vehicle identification numbers (VIN). Owners of uninsured vehicles revealed by that database are sent e-mails and letters requiring them to insure their cars. As for the claims made in the Way to Go, Texas! (aka You Just Have to Love Texas!) e-mails, although Dallas police did have 256 uninsured vehicles towed during the first nine days of the statute's enforcement, that city's impound lots were not full after only nine days. Scott Walton, spokesman for the Dallas Police Department, said that It never reached even close to capacity after this [law] was implemented. As for the claim that 80+ % of the impounded cars were driven by illegals, no one is checking on the immigration status of the drivers or owners of impounded cars, so that number was fabricated by whoever penned the e-mail. Texas residents do not have to show they are legally in the country before purchasing vehicle insurance or reclaiming vehicles from city impound lots, and Dallas police don't usually ask motorists they stop for traffic violations to provide proof of legal residency. As spokesman Scott Walton also stated, We do not check citizenship or the status of immigration when people come to claim their car. I don't know where that (percentage) came from. Even though proof of insurance must be furnished to get a license renewal or safety inspection, enforcement of the law has been difficult. Millions of motorists skirt the requirement by using counterfeit proof-of-insurance cards or obtaining a month's coverage of insurance to get an ID card, only to cancel the policy once they get their licenses renewed. As for the e-mail's claim that Accident rates have gone down 47% since the implementation of the impound ordinance, according to the Texas Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Crash Statistics, the number of automobile accidents in Dallas went up in 2009, not down (36,932 in 2009, the first year of the impoundment of vehicles ordinance, compared to 35,388 in 2008) and have remained relatively steady since then (35,793 in 2010 and 35,273 in 2011). (en)
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