Risk of the roads

Keith Erickson thought it would be simple enough, getting the other driver to cover his wife's totaled Corolla after the 2004 accident.

That is, until he discovered the driver who had blown a stop sign and hit Pam Erickson with their young daughters and niece in the car was uninsured.

"He had shown some fake type of insurance," Erickson remembered.

Erickson himself went and knocked on the young man's door to ask the driver to pay the roughly $8,000 in damages.

"He said, 'I don't have insurance, but I'll pay you,'" Erickson said.

He didn't.

And things got complicated.

Erickson succeeded in asking the city prosecutor's office to upgrade the driver's traffic citation to a criminal misdemeanor for inattentive driving, he said. That followed with repeated court proceedings, where the driver repeatedly agreed to pay, and never did.

This dragged on for about three years, said Erickson, who attended every proceeding.

"It was time out of my life, and an inconvenience financially for us," said Erickson, a professional writer.

It was only when the judge gave an ultimatum - pay now, or go to jail - that the driver paid a full lump sum.

"Thank goodness he had the jail time hanging over his head, or he never would have paid," Erickson said.

THINK THIS couldn't happen to you?

The odds are better than you think.

About one in seven drivers are uninsured in the U.S., according to estimates from the Insurance Research Council.

While IRC reports that about 16 percent of drivers in Washington are uninsured, Idaho is less dire, with only half of that percentage uninsured.

The Gem State is tied with Utah and Nebraska as the sixth-lowest percentage of uninsured drivers in the country.

Even with that going for us, though, uninsured drivers are still an issue in North Idaho.

"In my opinion, it's a very significant problem," said Senior Magistrate Judge Eugene Marano.

He estimates that traffic court in the 1st District sees about five or six cases a day involving folks accused of or pleading guilty to driving without insurance.

"And that's just the misdemeanors," Marano said. "It doesn't count the infractions."

About two cases a day involve uninsured drivers where accidents are involved, he estimated, adding the county doesn't keep records of that number.

Idaho law mandates that drivers carry liability insurance. The first time a driver is caught without insurance is considered an infraction, requiring to pay up to about a $150 fee, Marano said. The second offense is a misdemeanor, with penalties of up to six months in jail, and/or a $1,000 fine.

The usual excuse from uninsured drivers is that they can't afford it, Marano said.

"What they can't afford, in my opinion, is to hit somebody else," he said.

It can be a drawn-out struggle, he explained, getting uninsured drivers to pay for accidents when they're at fault.

In small claims court, where damage is less than $5,000, the judge can garner the driver's wages or take items including vehicles to cover the victim's costs, he said.

"You go against the other person's assets, whatever those happen to be," he said.

If an uninsured driver hasn't paid damages in regular court, Marano said, the judge might issue a jail sentence, then allow the driver a probation period to pay up.

If the driver still doesn't come through in that time, he said, the judge can threaten to send the offender to jail immediately unless the payment is provided.

"Come back in a week, usually they'll have it paid," he said. "It's a magical formula."

Of course, it depends on the amount, he added.

"If it's a $150,000 accident, quite frankly, it ain't gonna happen," he said.

The driver can be sent to jail for not paying, Marano said, though it's at the discretion of the judge, based on the individual's record and ability to pay.

"The system is ineffective, if the person doesn't have anything to begin with," he said.

ACCORDING TO the county court clerk office, there were 339 cases filed in 1st District Court in 2010 involving uninsured drivers.

Liability insurance is usually the first thing individuals drop when they're having financial difficulty, said Sgt. Christie Wood, spokeswoman for the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.

"It isn't something that's going to keep your television or lights on," Wood said. "It's something that maybe you can get away it."

Yet folks who follow that logic are usually the ones who get into accidents, she added.

When she worked for the patrol department, she said, there seemed to be a correlation between accidents and uninsured motorists.

"From my personal perspective, it seemed like the person that was responsible for the accident often did not have insurance," she said.

That typically had costly results for the person not at fault, she added, as many uninsured drivers couldn't pay for damages.

"Besides the risk of extreme financial obligations (for being uninsured), there is just the moral obligation that you could possibly devastate another person," Wood said.

Coeur d'Alene police issued 187 citations last year for driving with no proof of liability insurance, and 1,235 citations for failure to display insurance.

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department has issued 80 citations since last May for failure to insure, said Lt. Stu Miller, and 1,062 citations for failure to show proof of insurance.

"Failure to show means they say they have insurance but don't have proof," Miller said. "There's probably 50 percent on average that are not telling us the truth."

Failure to show can be dismissed if drivers prove they have insurance in court.

Paul Landers, owner of Landers Insurance in Coeur d'Alene, said he has observed a rise in folks found driving without insurance who come to him for high-risk SR-22 insurance, which the state mandates some traffic violators carry as proof of financial responsibility.

"It does cost more than regular insurance," Landers said, estimating that it can reach up to $200 a month.

He sees folks coming in for SR-22s over uninsured driving violations about once a week, he added.

"It's just because of the economy," he said. "Times are tough."

When an individual comes to Allstate Insurance with a claim involving damages by an uninsured driver, agent Terry Kosiancic said, he knows the situation could be tricky.

"I always tell them it is a little more complicated than your average claim," Kosiancic said, adding that he sees such situations about a couple times a month. "There are a lot of unknowns on how to proceed with that individual."

SOME VICTIMS try to work with the individual, he said. Others file a claim through the court system.

On average, very few individuals get some restitution, he said.

"It is very difficult to try to take the person to small claims court or get their money back from having to pay a deductible or get a vehicle fixed," he said. "That individual might not have the financial capabilities to pay for it."

He suggested insured drivers avoid that situation by purchasing uninsured motorist insurance, covering damages by drivers with no insurance.

The extra insurance costs roughly 15 percent of an individual's overall insurance coverage, he said.

"I do recommend everyone has uninsured motorist coverage," he said.

Erickson said his family now carries uninsured motorist insurance, which he said was a nominal addition to his insurance costs.

"Had we had that (in 2004), our insurance would have paid it, and our insurance would have gone after him, instead of us having to pursue it," Erickson said. "Hopefully it won't happen again. But if it does, we're covered."

The cost of liability insurance depends on several factors, said Josh Tebbe, vice president of Redman and Company Insurance in Rathdrum.

That includes geographical area, desired cover limits, driver's age and driving record.

Tebbe estimated that the very minimum required liability insurance would cost under $60 a month for an individual between 20 and 40 years old with a decent driving record.

With all the potential for violation fees and financial obligations in the case of an accident, Kosiancic said, he can't imagine why anyone drives without insurance.

"The cost of having insurance is typically much less than all the fines associated with having an uninsured drivers claim," he said.