Comments on: Norwalk Police Check Seatbelt Use

By: OLD TIMER

OLD TIMER — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:16:27 +0000

Rose:
Think what you want, but the risk of driving without insurance, if you own anything at all, is enormous. If you have nothing to lose, then the risk might seem acceptable. If you get involved in an accident where someone dies, no matter who’s fault the accident was, without insurance, the lawsuit will bankrupt most of us. If, as in your example, life has been good for so long, I can’t imagine not owning some assets that I wouldn’t want to lose because I had no insurance. Driving without a registration or a license is not, in my opinion, anywhere near as big a risk. If you get caught, you pay a fine, you don’t loose your house.
The poor soul who has to choose between car insurance and food on the table simply cannot afford a car. There are a lot of older people in that position and the car goes on the market rather than stop eating.

By: Secondhand Rose

Secondhand Rose — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:52:25 +0000

Old Timer, so what you’re saying is that if you have been a perfect driver all your life, always paid your car tax and insurance bill and registration all your adult life, but you suddenly find yourself unemployed through no fault of your own – you would happily put your car up on blocks in the back yard and hang your keys on the wall and take the bus or ride a bike to your job interviews or to your Labor Dept. appointments?

Somehow I don’t think you would.

By: wineshine

wineshine — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:15:33 +0000

Rose,
Again, I understand where you’re coming from, however, it’s really a black and white situation. The cost of registration, and insurance, as OT states, is an inherent cost of operating a motor vehicle, and should be viewed by responsible citizens as just that. A car on the road without insurance is just as dangerous, potentially, as one without brakes. The victim in each case will be different. In the former, it’s the person the car hits, in the latter, the operator. Nevertheless, someone gets hurt when another makes the decision to flout the law.

The damage may not even be directly attributed to the uninsured motorist. You know the way it works. If you have insurance, and you hit someone who doesn’t, and you push that second car into mine, my insurance company sues the driver in the middle, not you. When my insurance company finds that the car that hit me is uninsured, I end up paying the damage.

Further, the damage done is often worse than just body work needed, or medical bills incurred. These violators give insurance companies an excuse to raise rates for everyone to cover their losses.

I guess I’ll never be able to accept having to pay for someone else’s mistakes.

By: OLD TIMER

OLD TIMER — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:05:53 +0000

The law requires proof of insurance to register a car. If you cannot afford a registration and insurance, and the inevitable tax bill for owning a car, you cannot afford a car. If you cannot afford to keep a car in safe operating condition, you cannot afford a car. If you cannot afford to fix dents and scratches, but you keep good tires and brakes on a properly registered and insured car, then you are a responsible person who can afford a car. A lot of poor people share cars so with others who work in the same neighborhoods. A lot of very hard working poor people, walk or ride bicycles until they can save enough to buy, and register, and insure, and maintain, a car.
They are not the ones getting caught with unregistered, uninsured cars. The people getting caught with unregistered, uninsured cars are people with prior history of similar violations.

By: Secondhand Rose

Secondhand Rose — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:52:26 +0000

I understand what you’re saying – and I agree.

However, you also need to understand that for many people in today’s economic clime, vehicle maintenance also falls by the wayside. Thus you have motorists who cannot afford the every-3-month-recommended oil changes; cannot afford to purchase tires (and at $50 to $100 per tire for a minimally decent pair, that’s REALLY dipping into the pocket money); and cannot afford to do much more than the absolute minimum maintenance necessary to keep the car on the road – thus you have cars with loose and noisy mufflers; cars dripping oil all over city streets and parking lots (not good for the environment when it gets washed into the storm drains); and cars in such a bad state of repair that that alone could be the cause of an accident – think bad bearings, for example, which could cause a wheel to come off while driving down the street, or lack of oil causing the engine to freeze in the middle of the highway, or a cracked water pump on a 25-degree day, and you get the picture. In lots of cases, finding that $85 to pay the insurance cost means NOT being able to pay some other bill, whether it’s for a prescription or for food on the table, or to keep the electricity on.

Fact is, far too many people right now are being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. Frankly, if it’s a choice between heating/lights and paying for car insurance, or eating and paying for car insurance, which do YOU think they’d choose?

I’m not playing Devil’s Advocate here; but I’ve actually had to make this choice at one point in my lifetime. And I can certainly sympathize with those who have to make it now. And another thing to remember is, not every person out there in the world without car insurance is a menace to other drivers – a lot of these people are simply normal, average, everyday people like you and me, good drivers all, many of whom have probably never even had a speeding ticket much less been involved in an accident – who have had to make choices based on being able to EXIST.

By: wineshine

wineshine — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:13:36 +0000

Rose,

You are certainly well-intentioned, and I agree with almost all of your statements, because, (and thanks for the lucidity!!!) they’re logical! I do want to put the question of insurance and registration costs into perspective (albeit mine) though.

While I’d be among the first to get a prescription filled, given the choice between good medical treatment and being insured, having insurance and being registered is part of the cost of operating a car, and should be viewed as such. Let’s be honest, $85 pales in comparison to the overall cost of automobile maintenance, and fuel, and should be viewed by responsible citizens as such. We can’t give people a pass based on feeling sorry for their situation. The best analogy I can offer is: what is the difference between medical malpractice insurance and auto insurance? Those who can potentially do harm to others have a responsibility to society to abide by accepted principles.

By: Secondhand Rose

Secondhand Rose — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:08:14 +0000

Wineshine, there’s a difference between those who CAN not obtain insurance – because they can’t afford it, for example – and those who WILL not obtain it – because they are in the country illegally. There is a preponderance of illegal alien drivers with no insurance, no licenses, no registration, driving willy-nilly throughout Fairfield County these days. I’m willing to bet that at least 75% of all hit-and-runs are committed by illegals with no license/insurance/registration. I’m aware that there are people out there who deliberately “flout” laws simply because they feel like it and can get away with it, but it’s my opinion that people who drive without insurance and/or registration are doing so because the cost is prohibitive for them. If people can’t afford to pay for a medical prescription, how do you expect them to pay for insurance and registration? $85 is a LOT of money to people living on a reduced income, like seniors – or for people barely making ends meet on unemployment. With the economy in the state that it currently is in, I think you’ll be seeing more uninsured drivers in the near future, instead of less. It’s not right, and I’m not condoning it – but I do understand it.

By: Fleeced

Fleeced — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:14:08 +0000

Be careful for what you ask for–you just might get it– with the horde of newly-minted legal eagles looking to pick YOUR pocket.

By: wineshine

wineshine — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:53:42 +0000

Highway, let me get this straight: You’re saying that registration fees, and auto insurance are discrimiatory? Or, you lose your job, and your registration automatically expires? Registrations expire what, every four years, and you’re saying that the $85 fee is a hardship? You actually condone, or make excuses for citizens who openly flout laws, and put others in harms way financially? Let’s face it, there are more than a few illegals in town who CAN NOT obtain insurance or drivers licenses. But, that’s okay too, right?

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:03:48 +0000

This is becoming the american way. Lawsuit againstMcDonald’s because your coffee is too hot when you carelessly spill it while holding it between your legs while driving. Go after gun manufacturers because a criminal uses a stolen gun to shoot someone. Target cigarette makers because people who have read warnings on every pack for the past 40 years continue to smoke and get cancer. Instead of ticketing violators, why doesn’t Blumenthal file suit against auto manufacturers because they don’t have automatic seatbelts that strap you in when you sit down, or disable the ignition until the seatbelt is engaged.