If you’re driving in Dallas, Texas, next year, you’d better have insurance.
On the heels of a recent change in Texas law which allows law enforcement officers to impound the vehicles of drivers caught without insurance when they’re involved in accidents, the city of Dallas has agreed that since uninsured motorists place an “undue burden” on other drivers, and in a 10-5 city council vote on Wednesday, May 28, they enacted a policy allowing cars driven without insurance to be towed for ANY traffic violation.
The new law won’t go into effect until January 1, 2009, mainly because a new statewide database of insured motorists won’t be ready until the fall, but members of the city council feel that the decision is a good one, despite the delay.
11 councilmember Linda Koop, the chair of the council’s transportation and environment committee, told reporters, “This is really simple. We have a policy that says you have to have insurance in order to drive. Driving is a privilege. When you’re not a responsible driver, you don’t get that privilege.”
The state database will allow officers to determine whether or not a motorist merely forgot their proof of insurance, or is truly uninsured.
As in the rest of the state, Dallas police are already towing the cars of uninsured motorists involved in accidents.