Manchester votes for mandatory auto insurance

[KBCraig]

It was a non-binding referendum, but apparently a large portion of Manchester voters support mandatory insurance. Great comments at the end.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Mandatory+auto+insurance+has+been+tough+sell&articleId=0a90b3f9-2c36-4ffb-93f1-5087da42b47e

Mandatory auto insurance has been a tough sell

By MICHAEL COUSINEAU
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff

Manchester residents last week overwhelmingly backed the idea of mandatory auto insurance in New Hampshire, but is such a measure necessary?

Only six states have lower percentages of uninsured drivers than the Granite State, according to one national study.

"It will be very hard for New Hampshire to do better, considering it's already far better than the country-wide average," said Dave Snyder, vice president and assistant general counsel for the American Insurance Association, a trade association.

"The amount of uninsured drivers seems to reflect claims costs and average income and not whether the state has a compulsory insurance law or not," Snyder said last week.

In 2006, New Hampshire ranked fifth in median household income.

New Hampshire, which doesn't require liability insurance in most cases, had 8.8 percent uninsured drivers, below the national average of 14.6 percent in 2004, according to a study by the Insurance Research Council.

Those figures represent the percentage of uninsured motorists involved in crashes producing bodily injury. Snyder said that is best way to measure the uninsured.

Liability insurance pays the other driver's medical, car repair and other costs when a policy holder is at fault in a crash.

Manchester referendum organizer Ed Osborne -- who says he has been hit by uninsured drivers six times over the past 25 to 30 years -- said it's time for the Legislature to act.

"See if we can put a little pressure behind the state reps," said Osborne, Manchester's Ward 5 alderman. "The squeaky wheel gets the oil eventually. I think it's good protection for everybody."


Previous attempts
Repeated attempts have failed at the State House to get auto insurance mandated for all drivers.

"In the six terms that I've served, I think we've seen mandatory auto insurance four or five of those terms," said Rep. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, who chairs the House Commerce Committee, which conducts hearings on insurance-related legislation.

In those cases, lawmakers have found that states with mandatory insurance generally have fared worse than New Hampshire, which, along with Wisconsin, is one of only two not to require auto liability insurance. Opponents also have told the committee that poor people would have difficulty paying for insurance coverage.

"I think our logic in the past (has been) we don't want to create a low-income class of people who are criminals (for) just trying to get to work with their uninsured autos," Reardon said.

Last Tuesday, 83 percent of Manchester voters supported mandatory auto insurance for drivers. Osborne said he is talking to a few local legislators to get the issue to the State House again.

"If a Manchester rep wanted to bring that bill to us, we would take a look at it," Reardon said.

"What's important to the commerce committee is whether the statistics are different this time around. In the past years, we found with voluntarily insuring your autos, we actually have a higher share of insured autos than Massachusetts."

Deborah O'Loughlin, legal coordinator at the state Insurance Department, said New Hampshire falls between 8 and 10 percent uninsured, while Massachusetts, which has compulsory insurance, has 15 percent uninsured drivers. She cited those figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The 2004 Insurance Research Council figures put the Massachusetts rate at 6 percent, better than New Hampshire's 8.8 percent. Maine (4.2) and Vermont (5.7) also topped the Granite State.

Pay later, pay more?
Rep. Paul McEachern, D-Portsmouth, said he would back mandatory insurance.

Uninsured drivers found at fault in an accident could lose their license or face high financial costs, said McEachern, an attorney.

"It's like pay me now or pay me later, but pay me later is a lot higher than pay me now," said McEachern, who thinks the percentage of uninsured drivers would drop with mandatory insurance.

Bob Nash, president of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New Hampshire, disagrees.

"There's no evidence more people will be insured or rates will go down," said Nash, whose organization represents the state's independent insurance agents.

He said there might be "upward pressure" on rates should coverage become mandatory because there would be a cost for enforcement and administration.

According to the state Insurance Department, New Hampshire is the 30th most expensive state for average yearly auto insurance premiums in 2005. The $849.34 average is below the national norm. Another survey ranked New Hampshire 22nd most expensive.

New Hampshire currently mandates that all policies include funding to pay victims of accidents caused by uninsured drivers. Even if liability insurance becomes mandatory, that requirement would remain in place to protect New Hampshire motorists from out-of-state and in-state uninsured drivers.

"One reason New Hampshire has a low uninsured population is when you're financing a vehicle, you have to have proof of insurance," O'Loughlin said. "A lender is not going to provide a loan and have (the car) out there as an uninsured vehicle."

[Pat McCotter]

"Manchester referendum organizer Ed Osborne -- who says he has been hit by uninsured drivers six times over the past 25 to 30 years -- said it's time for the Legislature to act."


So, Ed Osborne must

1) Drive a lot or
2) Drive in some bad areas or
3) Be accident-prone.

I've had two accidents in more than 30 years of driving - one was not my fault and unavoidable (I was 18 then) and one was not my fault but avoidable (I was 48 then.)

See, I can be just as anecdotal as Ed Osborne.

[anthonybpugh]

I cannot think of the actual name of the term but there is a concept that says that having insurance will result in more accidents.  Insurance makes the cost of engaging in risky behavior less costly which will result in more of that behavior.

[sandm000]

Not to mention that when insurance is mandatory, rates go up.

captive audience anyone?

[J’raxis 270145]

Considering all the propaganda the auto insurance industry has been putting up in Manchester lately—at least half a dozen billboards around the city are for auto insurance—it's not surprising that so many people have been convinced it's a good idea, and that was probably the goal of the industry in putting up those ads in the first place.

...

If they're trying to directly create more criminals by passing laws, if this goes anywhere, they just created at least one: I absolutely will not buy car insurance when the government is trying to force me to, and will simply drive without it. Currently, I plan to go the legal route and get my car registered, inspected, and so on, when I buy one, but if they try to enforce insurance laws like Massachusetts, by tying it to your registration, I'll just go Lauren Canario's route with the whole paperwork thing sooner than pay for insurance.

[Pat McCotter]

83% of voters in one city want the rest of the 1.5 million people in the state to do their bidding.

[Mike Barskey]

Don't insurance companies offer "uninsured motorist" insurance, in case your property is damaged by an uninsured motorist? If so (and I think it exists here in CA), then Ed Osborne's demand specifically means that everyone else in NH needs to pay for his "uninsured motorist" insurance.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I cannot think of the actual name of the term but there is a concept that says that having insurance will result in more accidents.  Insurance makes the cost of engaging in risky behavior less costly which will result in more of that behavior.

When I was young, when only Mass had mandatory insurance,it was common to say, "must be a Massachusetts Driver!" when someone would cut you off or, otherwise drive recklessly because of the mandatory insurance.

[J’raxis 270145]

It's amusing that Ed Osborne is behind this, yet more traffic-related nonsense. This is the alderman who recently proposed putting up "Smile—you might be on camera" signs to deter speeders, not even realizing—or not caring—that the actual cameras would be illegal to install. Fortunately not one other aldermen on the committee supported his proposal.

He is also responsible for the similar radar warning signs that are up around the city.

[Ogre]

Don't insurance companies offer "uninsured motorist" insurance, in case your property is damaged by an uninsured motorist?

Yes.  I have some as well.

This is nothing more than one person who is the standard statist -- he thinks he knows better than you and if you disagree with him, you're just not smart enough to make your own decisions.  Therefore, he wants to use the force of government to make you comply with his "more correct" decisions.  Oh, how I yearn for freedom.

[Russell Kanning]

we just voted here in Hobbiton .... and we decided not to recognize the city of manchester anymore

what do you shire residents in the merrimack valley area want to call yourselves?

[anthonybpugh]

I kind of want to call myself Anthony

[error]

Anarchester?

[shyfrog]

Why don't we ask the *cough* 83% to move to Mandatory, Mass where they can live out their dreams of mandatory mass hysteria?

I know...there is no place-name "Mandatory" in MA. 

[Porcupine Realtor]

Can you believe that more people voted to force their neighbors to buy insurance than voted against placing a federal halfway house in the city?  That, to me, is unbelievable!  The only possible explanation is that a HUGE percentage of voters are government employees, the type of scum that benefits from government largesse.

BTW, my LTE in the Manch Daily Express on Monday exhorting voters to vote NO on Question 1 obviously didn't help.  GD, voters are stupid.  We have SO MUCH work to do here to make it a Free State.