Nick Fickling
April 23, 2008

The recent multiple car pile-up on Vail Pass, and talk on NPR of no-fault car insurance, reminded me how disturbing and costly a traffic accident is, even if you emerge uninjured and it is entirely someone else’s fault.

A couple of months ago my car was sideswiped in a Beaver Creek parking lot by a white camper wagon that failed to stop. I was at work, but luckily a witness obtained the license plate number and made a statement to the police. As he took down the details, the policeman who attended the incident drolly opined that the driver of the camper was probably uninsured.

I contacted my insurance company, had the car repaired and waited for them to track down the offending party. Eventually a letter came in the mail telling me that the policeman was right; the driver was uninsured. My insurance company will no doubt continue to battle for the cash. Meanwhile, I have paid my hefty deductible, accepted that such things happen even to nice people like me, and promised myself never again to park where my car might get bashed.

Now let me tell you of Jackie. Her parents’ lives were completely ruined when a drunk, uninsured driver ran into them. They had worked all their lives, owned a nice house, a nice car, had accrued a tidy nest egg and were looking forward to retirement. They lost all that when the drunk totalled their car and they were severely injured. They were no longer able to work, and their medical bills were astronomical, rapidly exceeding the amount that their insurance company would pay.

If someone is uninsured there is little chance that you are going to get any compensation, let alone enough to cover a long spell in intensive care followed by a lifetime without income. Jackie’s parents did not die but were severely disabled and became a burden on their family at a time when life should have been good for all.

This must be happening all too frequently in the United States. Lives and families ruined and the great American dream turned into a nightmare. It could happen to you tomorrow.

So what is the solution? Maybe we could solve this by merely adding a few cents to each gallon of gas.

My suggestion is that the government guarantee third-party insurance for all drivers from one of many private insurance companies, you choose which one, at the time you tax your car. The insurance is at the most basic level but covers third-party risk up to say, $10 million. That way we never have to worry about uninsured drivers. Everyone pays, even if they are criminals or unregistered aliens, and we can all avoid the painful financial cost of cases such as my minor ding or the disaster that struck Jackie’s parents.

There would also be other considerable benefits to society: less paper-pushing by insurance companies and lawyers and policemen, no warrants or court cases for driving uninsured, less angst when an accident occurs, cheaper rental cars, and the car insurance companies would, of course, charge us all less for the non-third party slice of our car insurance. OK, that last one might be a stretch! The other nice aspect to all this would be the way we all would be paying for the third-party damage part of our insurance in direct proportion to the amount we drive.

Of course my suggestion would undoubtedly meet opposition from those who benefit from the current system, those who object to any form of taxation no matter how sensible the use it is put to, those who like to drive around uninsured and those who defend the God-given right of such people to drive around uninsured.

Nick Fickling is retired from the British military and lives in the Vail Valley. E-mail him at fickling@vail.net or editor@vailtrail.com.