Red light cameras now check for insurance, too
Tom Barlow
Jun 29th 2009 at 4:30PMText SizeAAAFiled under: Insurance, Technology, Transportation
Drive without insurance? Then you'd better stay out of Ohio, where the state is considering a program that uses red-light cameras and insurance company databases to check passing traffic for uninsured motorists. The system would use license plate numbers to verify driver insurance. According to the Columbus Dispatch, officials in Chicago, who are considering the same system, from InsureNet of Novi, Michigan, think that such a program could generate $200 million in additional revenue for the Windy City.

When the system identifies an uninsured motorist, the driver would be sent a letter instructing him to take care of the problem. If he doesn't, a fine will soon follow. In Ohio, that fine is $125 for a first offense, $300 for a second and $550 for a third.

The system is already being provided to law enforcement, free of charge, so even those uninsured drivers who managed to dodge the cameras can be busted if they catch the attention of a local gendarme. The system can also provide them lien reports in real time.

I'm all for requiring drivers to carry insurance, but I'm not pleased by the prospect of insurance company databases being opened for InsureNet's searches. I can see how this would be a good deal for the insurance companies, because it will drive business their way. For the general public, however, this feels like another step toward a Big Brother future.
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This is a bad idea. It is a slippery slope. As was the requirement for insurance in the first place. Regardless of if I have insurance or not, if I cause an accident I can be held financially responsible. I could cause an accident walking down the sidewalk to need to carry walking insurance.

Please don't walk by me.

Just think of the trouble I could cause.

in britain our cop cars have ANPR cameras. automatic numberplate recognition. they read every numberplate that passes them, linked to a daterbase which instantly tells the coppers tax, mot, insurence criminal record details and registered keepers name and their adress
so people are stopped for any offence. i think its a good idear as uninsured drivers crashing just raises my insurence premium

hey...I carry full coverage because of the idiots that drive without insurance. why should I have to pay extra to cover their accidents if the hit me???

wich is why its a good idear to get them off the road.... yes?

yep...but as of right now..you usually don't know who until it's too late

well the o/p is a way of catching them so i guess your for it

yeppers. because it's very hard to collect from someone in small claims court....plus the pain of taking people to court...assuming they can afford the damages

Brittan has far fewer liberties than we enjoy here and even those are shrinking daily. Do you really want a record of everywhere you and everything you do? What about your right to privacy? They have surveillance cameras on near every street corner in Brittan from what I hear. That is the direction this sort of thing is heading.

You are just a likely to be responsible for causing accidents doing many other things that do not require insurance. The insurance laws serve only insurance companies and the politicians who get the kick backs for from them. Why is it the governments responsibility to regulate such things? These laws are a hindrance to those who struggle financially.

I really don't mind. I'm not doing anything wrong and if they get their jollies with my boring life...then theirs are even more boring

as a youngster i did ALOT of naughty stuff and i wouldnt of got away with it if theese things were around so im glad they wernt
however, today my citys are run by gangs of young mainly black, very bored kids who think its fine to stab steal and gang rape their peers, so yes im all for it.
if you dont behave like a tit then you have nothing to worry about.
plus i live in a rural area and its not over run with cameras.
it is however over run with uninsured un taxed and therefor proberbly un mot`d and unsafe cars driven by uncareing people, wich i`d rather werent on the road to hit me or my family
i do agree that we dont want this so called big brother state, but i dont feel that we have it

how does that behave???

in your case... very badly i imagine... i mean, i would imagine
i mean, if i imagined, ahh sod it, jiggly jiggly
hey, i was tryin to post something sensible for once, and youve just ruined it

lies...all lies I tell ya

And you never will. Liberties are slowly taken away over generations. Each made to feel comfortable with what they give up.

As far as violence and gang related problems, if our countries really wanted them to be solved, they would utilize a little social engineering.

For instance:
Crime follows poverty. Poverty is quite often caused by ineffective economies. There is something to think about when it comes to starting programs that "take care of people". Lowering taxes, usually raises the economy. There are, of course, many more factors to think about.

As far as organized crime and gangs are concerned, they are funded by the black market. Make something illegal, you give them more funding, while causing and increase in taxes so the state can combat the product.

It is important for systems to change from time to time as there are always people looking to take advantage of them. But, one constant, seems to be, the less freedom people have, the less responsibly they behave...

The concept of the OP doesn't bother me a whole lot, but the execution of it has serious potential problems. First thing I can think of is that not all insurance companies in every state have accessible databases so lots of tickets could be issued to people who have insurance. Such systems are also prone to error think of the number of times these camera's are attempting to read license plates and access the database, the possibility of error is rather high in terms of how many people will receive tickets erroneously. And then we get into the subject of cars from other countries and it really gets messy.