One in seven at-fault drivers in auto accidents is uninsured, according to a recent report by the Insurance Research Council.

The study, “Uninsured Motorists, 2006 Edition,” analyzed trends from 1999 to 2004 in the percentage of uninsured drivers by state. IRC collected data from 11 large property-casualty insurers, which it says represents about 58 percent of the private passenger auto insurance market in the U.S. The report estimated the number of uninsured drivers by the ratio of insurance claims made by individuals injured by uninsured drivers to claims made by individuals injured by drivers who were insured.

The report indicates that the estimated percentage of uninsured motorists increased nationally from 12.7 percent in 1999 to 14.6 percent in 2004, yet the scale of the problem varies from state to state. The five states with the highest uninsured driver estimates in 2004 were Mississippi (26 percent), Alabama (25 percent), California (25 percent), New Mexico (24 percent), and Arizona (22 percent). The five states with the lowest uninsured driver estimates were Maine (four percent), Vermont (six percent), Massachusetts (six percent), New York (seven percent), and Nebraska (eight percent).

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.