UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED MOTORISTS: TRENDS IN POLICY AND ENFORCEMENT

The Insurance Research Council, an industry research group, estimated Arizona's uninsured motorist rate at an average 16% for the years 1995 to 1997. The Arizona Department of Transportation puts the number today at half that figure. Depending on the number used, the economic costs of motor vehicle accidents involving uninsured motorists in Arizona in 2002 were an estimated $240.45 million to $480.89 million. Of equal concern, motorists with minimum motor vehicle liability insurance create, on average, an estimated $37,100 in economic costs for each person they injure who is incapacitated, plus an estimated $2,200 for each person they injure who is not incapacitated - after policy limits have been exhausted. In fact, if every Arizona driver were insured, but had just $15,000 per person bodily liability limits, injured accident victims would have a one in ten chance that over 70% of the economic costs of their injuries would not be covered by insurance. According to a 1994 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 40.1% of the total economic costs of motor vehicle accidents in Arizona are passed on to the public and the state. Uninsured and underinsured motorists are major contributors to those costs. This report examines what states have done and what different interest groups have put forth to ensure the availability of compensation to accident victims.

• Record URL:
  https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/24000/24800/24847/AZ548.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Marketing Intelligence, LLC

  1636 N Swan road, Suite 102
  Tucson, AZ  United States  85712

  Arizona Department of Transportation

  206 South 17th Avenue
  Phoenix, AZ  United States  85007

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Markkula, L
• Publication Date: 2004-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 239 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile insurance; Costs; Injuries; Traffic crashes; Trend (Statistics)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Underinsured motorists; Uninsured motorists
• Geographic Terms: Arizona
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00979957
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-AZ-04-548,, Final Report
• Contract Numbers: SPR-PL-1-(61)548
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 6 2004 12:00AM