Sixty-eight percent of adults disagree with the idea that localgovernments should charge accident response fees to individualsinvolved in traffic accidents, according to a new study from the Insurance Research Council(IRC). Requiring insurers rather than the individuals involved inan accident to pay accident response fees had little impact on thelevel of support for accident response fees. When reminded thatrequiring insurers to pay accident response fees could lead tohigher auto insurance costs, 69 percent of survey respondentsdisagreed with the idea of local governments charging accidentresponse fees.

“Efforts to fund emergency response services through accidentresponse fees stand in direct conflict with the fundamental notionthat certain government services should be paid for by alltaxpayers—not just those who are unlucky enough to actually needthe services,” said Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president ofthe IRC. Lawmakers in 12 states have enacted legislationprohibiting local governments from imposing accident response fees.Several more have debated similar legislation.

The study was based on telephone interviews with 1,012 adultscountrywide conducted in January by market research firm HarrisInteractive.

In looking at different demographic groups and opinionsregarding accident response fees, the IRC found only one group,individuals between 18 and 24 years of age, whose members were morelikely to agree than disagree with the imposition of accidentresponse fees.

For all other age, education, and income groups, morerespondents disagreed than agreed with the idea of chargingaccident response fees.