By Zack Van Eyck Deseret News staff writer

Five years ago, a jittery Legislature and reluctant governor signed off on creating a tool designed to clear Utah roads of the bane of law-abiding motorists -- the uninsured driver.

Today, the statewide Uninsured Motorist Identification Database has won over most if not all of its early skeptics and opponents. Law enforcers count on it, legislators like the results and even the insurance industry has come to accept what it initially feared.

The talk now is not whether to let the database expire next year, when the Legislature considers whether to extend the life of the database beyond 2000. Rather, the discussions are about expanding what is already the most informative listing of its kind in the nation and come down harder on the uninsured driver.

"We need to improve everything we're doing so that we're not just spinning wheels, like the situation where a person can continually go without insurance and nothing happens," said Rep. Lowell Nelson, R-Highland, an insurance executive. "I think we need to beef up the rules or restrictions or penalties."

High-tech law enforcement
Created by the Utah Legislature in 1994, the database is a computer system that cross-references vehicle registrations and drivers' licenses with a list of insured motorists provided monthly by insurance companies. Administration of the database is paid for through a $1 surcharge collected as part of the annual state vehicle registration fee.

The idea is to compel Utah drivers to purchase automobile insurance, as required by law, by identifying and contacting those who aren't insured.

The state pays a private company, Insure-Rite, about $1.2 million a year to compile the database and send letters to the uninsured asking that they remedy the situation.

The database is credited with reducing the percentage of Utah's 1.5 million drivers who are uninsured from 23 percent (322,898 uninsured drivers) in July 1995 to 10.4 percent (155,474 drivers) today.

Before the database, all police could go on was a card issued by the driver's insurer. Verdi White II, spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, said someone could buy insurance, cancel it 10 days later and still have a card giving the impression the policy was still in force.

Troopers now rely solely on the database to determine whether a motorist is insured or not. "The database has become part of the (law enforcement) system, just as routine as running a check on a license plate or a driver's license. Officers have gotten use to it and feel comfortable with it." White said.

The latest data available from the state driver license division shows that in 1996, 6,826 Utahns were convicted of driving without automobile insurance. Another 3,038 were convicted of owning a vehicle that was not insured. Included in those figures were 443 who were convicted of both driving without insurance and owning an uninsured vehicle.

And by all indications, motorists are taking notice. Insure-Rite calculated that the percentage of uninsured motorists dropped to 15.5 percent in August 1996, a year after the program began, and was at 12 percent at the end of that first full year. It hit a low of 8.9 percent (117,138 uninsured drivers) in 1997.

No teeth to enforce
Insure-Rite President Richard Kasteler believes one reason for the jump back up to the 10-percent level may have been a September 1997 Deseret News story. The article explained that while legislators created the database, they did not provide a means of enforcement: All Insure-Right can do is send out warning letters.

Insure-Rite uses about two dozen criteria to match registered vehicles with uninsured motorists. If the individual is identified as uninsured for 45 days, an initial letter requesting compliance is mailed out. If the person does not respond with proof of insurance, a second letter is mailed.

Unless they are caught driving without insurance by law officers, uninsured drivers can't be penalized -- $400 for the first offense and $1,000 for second-time offenders. The state has no authority to revoke a driver's license or a vehicle's license plate just because the person is identified by the database as having no automobile insurance.

Those involved with the database say the state's 10.5 percent rate of uninsured drivers could be lower, although perhaps not without new enforcement capability.

Time is right Some in the Legislature, however, think it is time to take another look at how increased enforcement could further decrease the number of uninsured motorists in Utah.

"The (1997 state) audit and public sentiment has talked about enforcement, and so I think the Legislature will take up the issue of enforcement," said Sen. David Steele, R-West Point.

"We have confidence in the database. We know we can provide follow-up information. We have the technology and the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary system to take advantage of the database."

One possibility is to send uninsured motorists an automatic fine through the mail if they fail to respond to initial letters from the state asking for proof of insurance.

Lawmakers this year didn't pass a bill that would have let officers impound vehicles driven by uninsured motorists.

But Nelson agrees with Steele that the time is right to give the database a little bite to go along with its bark.

Nelson hopes the state Transportation Interim Committee decides in May whether to undertake a full review of the database during its monthly interim meetings this year and come up with ideas on how to strengthen it.

But is it accurate?
A big concern among lawmakers when the database was proposed was that it would be inaccurate, falsely accusing law-abiding citizens.

Nelson wants the database's accuracy examined by lawmakers between now and the next legislative session. He believes, based on residents he's talked to, that accuracy still may be a problem.

A state audit in 1997 said two separate categories of information compiled by Insure-Right were, respectively, 96 percent and 98 percent accurate. And Skip Nielsen, records bureau chief for the state driver license division, said that in 3 1/2 years he has had only one written complaint and a few phone calls from residents alleging mistakes by the database.

The division is responsible for reviewing all accident reports to detect uninsured motorists.

Another concern that never panned was whether the information would be misused.

Insurance companies initially opposed the database. In fact, Gov. Mike Leavitt, whose family owns a large insurance company, vetoed a bill creating the database in 1993.

The big worry was that companies' lists of policyholders would fall into the wrong hands -- namely, those of competitors seeking to take away business -- and create havoc in the industry. There is no evidence, state officials and three insurance company representatives said, that that has taken place. By law, Insure-Rite's records are kept confidential.

A wealth of information
As state officials probe the possibilities of a database on uninsured drivers, those gathering the information have made attempts at expanding its use -- and not always with success.

The database has been used to identify Utah drivers with cars registered illegally in another state. But Kasteler said keeping that activity in check proved problematic and Insure-Rite's practice of contacting those drivers was discontinued by the state Tax Commission about 18 months ago. The commission declined to talk about the decision.

But that experience hasn't soured Insure-Rite on making more efforts to utilize its data more expansively. The company is now in the process of producing a profile of the typical uninsured Utah driver that would include where they live, how old they are, and the type and age of their vehicles.

Nelson also wants to know if the database could be used more effectively to nab those property tax-evaders.

"We're the only state in the union that has full reporting and the only ones who actually identify the uninsured motorists," Kasteler said. "There are a number of other states that have databases that are based on insurance companies reporting if someone cancels (their insurance)."

Nielsen also suggested that insurance companies could report their information more often. Currently, the list of individuals insured by each company is due on the 7th of the month. That means the database information a trooper or police officer accesses could be out of date and less reliable.

"I'd like to have a daily update -- almost real time, if you will, because it's possible that the information he (Kasteler) has is up to a month old," Nielsen said. "That would require insurance companies to be able to do electronic updating and there are some potential problems there. Some of the larger companies have that capability -- they've invested in that technology -- but some of the smaller ones don't."

Despite the database's success, it will never be the cure-all to the nightmare of being hit by a driver who has no insurance to cover the damage.

There is a certain percentage of drivers, however, who will likely always be uninsured -- perhaps as many as 6 percent, according to national studies of the problem. Kasteler said he believes it is possible to reduce Utah's rate to as low as 2 or 3 percent.

"I think we can get it below 5 percent, but it takes real enforcement and a real dedication to solving the problem," Kasteler said. "If they're not going to enforce it, they might as well get rid of the law."

For more information, see Insure-Rite's Web page at www.insure-rite.com.