Uninsured Drivers Get N.J. Agent Focus

Ms. Heisler said there are an estimated 500,000 uninsured vehicles traveling the state's roads, or approximately six to seven percent of New Jersey registrations, despite substantial fines for those convicted of operating a vehicle without insurance.

Police are currently hampered because a central database is lacking that would help them identify fraudulent insurance ID's in real time, Ms. Heisler said.

The IIANJ is currently working with police departments in the state to develop specific steps for police officers to follow should they have a suspicion that a driver's ID is fraudulent, she said. Currently there is no protocol for either insurance agents or police officers to follow when a phony ID case arises, she explained.

The IIANJ, she said, has suggested that police use checkpoints to monitor driver's insurance and create a hotline for officers to call if they have a question about a driver's insurance card. Currently, insurance cards are manually verified for accidents, but not for routine stops, she explained.

Ms. Heisler said she hopes that eventually the technology will be available to enable state and local police officers to check with both insurance agencies' and the Department of Motor Vehicles' databases in real time to solve this problem.

She noted reports that insurance card rings have been charging between $100-150 for the falsified cards. Until the enforcement technology improves, Ms. Heisler said she hopes the increased education, cooperation and communication between the insurance agencies, police officers and state officials will help the situation.

Ms. Heisler said the current effort to battle uninsured drivers and fraudulent ID cards is being helped by a new focus from state officials and a commitment from them to work with the insurance industry and groups like the IIANJ.

She said the IIANJ is also intent on educating consumers about the costs and penalties associated with drivers who either voluntarily of involuntarily allow their insurance to lapse, only to repurchase it again at a later date.

"Consumers who never imagine shoplifting or robbing a bank routinely choose to violate our mandatory insurance laws," Ms. Heisler said.

The lawbreakers, she noted, are not contributing to the insurance system "which increases costs to the majority of our state's drivers who purchase insurance."

New Jersey State Police spokesman Detective Stephen Jones agreed there is a need for increased cooperation between insurance agencies and NJ State Police.

An insurance companies' hotline eliminating the need for police to make multiple calls to insurers in order to track down insurance card fraud, he said that would allow officers to nab offenders on the spot. Frequently insurance card infractions are not detected until calls are made at the police station, allowing the uninsured driver back on the road.