Electronic auto insurance verification: Chronicle editorial for 9/29/10

I’m a pretty good test-taker. I hate tests, but I excel at passing them. This happens to be a good thing, because we insurance agents have to take 24 hours of continuing ed every two years. Some day I might write a column to whine about government involvement in my professional status, but not today.

One continuing education requirement is 1 credit hour of Montana law. There was one thing of particular interest in this course, and this is what I want to discuss. I thought I kept my finger on the pulse of my industry rather well, but there was a change to Montana insurance law I didn’t know about.

The 2009 legislature mandated the installation of an Online Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Verification System, the purpose of which is to be able to electronically verify the insured status of vehicles. I wondered why I had missed this, so I googled “61-6-157,” which is the actual reference for the law. The only hits I received were State of Montana Websites. It didn’t make the news at all.

This law and its related laws require insurance carriers to electronically provide insurance data to the State, commencing July 2011. Law enforcement will have real-time access to the insurance status of drivers. According to 61-6-309, “…a peace officer or authorized employee of a law enforcement agency may, during the course of a traffic stop or accident investigation, access the verification system provided under 61-6-157 to verify whether a motor vehicle is covered by a valid motor vehicle liability policy…”

You know, this sounds just like the Arizona illegal immigration law. So “peace officers” will already know if you have liability coverage when they stop you. Since the online system is funded by fines and penalties collected from violators, there appears to be a real incentive to pull over people to ascertain their insured status. Where is the ACLU when you need them?

I’m in a bit of a quandary, however. On one hand I have a financial interest in writing car insurance. On the other, I have to consider how the mandatory insurance law is interpreted by my libertarian leanings. I don’t like laws that force otherwise law-abiding citizens to purchase something.

Some have tried to draw a parallel with the mandatory purchase of health insurance under Obamacare, but it’s not the same. The purchase of liability insurance is mandated by individual states, not the feds. Liability insurance protects others, not you. And if you don’t drive the law doesn’t apply to you, whereas Obamacare is only escapable via the actions of the death panel.

So the State, in essence, is forcing us to be “responsible” by buying liability insurance, yet there is something like a 40% non compliance rate. Further, the minimum liability requirement is only $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident bodily injury to others, and $10,000 per accident property damage to others. Or you can purchase an indemnity bond with similar limits. These are clearly token requirements, and they are exceeded in accidents on a regular basis.

I suspect the legislation is intended to increase compliance, or perhaps, to increase revenue. It certainly increases state control over citizens. Admittedly, the financial consequences of an accident are potentially quite substantial, but we need to note that there is no requirement for citizens to purchase liability insurance for carelessly leaving a rake lying around, wrong side up. In fact, aside from automotive liability there is no other liability purchase mandate I can think of.

For better or worse, I tend to err on the side of less government control in peoples’ lives. In my idea of a perfect world, individuals, not society, would be responsible for their choices.

Successful marriage requires virtue

This chart shows data regarding the success rate of marriage when the bride has had other sexual partners. You'll note that marrying a virginal woman is an almost iron-clad guarantee that the marriage will not end in divorce. Just one sexual partner lowers the success rate to barely 50/50, and by the time a woman has had 16+ sexual partners, a successful marriage is rather unlikely.

I do not have data on the groom.

How is this different than the Arizona law?

Effective October 1, 2009, Section 61-6-157, Montana Code, Annotated:

"Senate bill 508 creates an Online Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Verification System to verify the compliance of a motor vehicle owner or operator with motor vehicle liability policy requirements and to monitor proof of financial responsibility. The new law allows the Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, to contract with a private vendor or vendors to establish and maintain the system. The system will send requests to insurers for verification of motor vehicle liability insurance using electronic services established by the insurers. The system will include provisions to secure its data against unauthorized access and to maintain a record of all requests and responses. The system will be accessible without fee to authorized personnel of the Department, the courts, law enforcement
personnel, county treasurers, and their authorized agents...

"All insurers must cooperate with the department in establishing and maintaining the system and must provide access to motor vehicle liability policy status information to verify liability coverage for a vehicle insured by that company that is registered in this state and, if available, for a vehicle that is insured by that company or that is operated in this state and the subject of an accident investigation, regardless of where the vehicle is registered.

Law Enforcement Use of the System

"A peace officer or authorized employee of a law enforcement agency may, during the course of a traffic stop or accident investigation, access the verification system to verify whether a motor vehicle is covered by a valid motor vehicle liability policy as required by state law. The response received from the system supersedes an insurance card produced by a vehicle owner or operator."

Effective January 1, 2010, Section 61-3-303, Montana Code Annotated:

"Beginning July 1, 2011, the county treasurer will use the Online Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Verification System to verify that vehicle owners have complied with motor vehicle liability requirements. Unless the verification system is temporarily unavailable, the county treasurer cannot issue license plates to a motor vehicle when compliance cannot be verified."

Another response to atheism

This is why I always ask the atheist to provide scientific evidence they exist, because, for all I know I could be having a hallucination! the atheist I am talking to might not be real! documentary, historical and anecdotal evidence don't aren't good enough! not even personal experience!

I also wonder why atheists don't have scientific evidence their mothers exist, or they love them. The atheist might counter with 'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence! its a lot more extraordinary to say a (insert attributes here) sky fairy that made the universe exists than it is to say a human being that doesn't believe in a sky fairy exist' to which I reply 'wrong, it is equally extraordinary to believe that a random occurrence of molecules has somehow assembled itself into what seems to be (if you're real) your unique form and has had your unique experiences. I find that to be quite extraordinary indeed! and I would like scientific evidence you exist!' It's all in your perception and how you word things!

Most atheists don't grasp the fact that what is extraordinary is entirely dependent upon the person and their experiences. I am sure some tribesman that's lived his entire life in the amazon rain forest might think a building or a rocket ship is 'extraordinary,' while the atheist, who experiences those things everyday, will find both a rocket ship and a building to be not extraordinary.

Then you point out that according to the evidence, the majority of the world believes the supernatural exists (whether they experience it everyday as much as we experience buildings and rocket ships is a different story entirely) and thus in this sense the atheist can be compared to the ignorant tribesman in that he is completely oblivious to what the majority of the world believes is real.