Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-01
HurdIeCieared
On Uninsured
MOtOrist Peril
D. c. Plan Set
On Payment Of
Victims Bills
BY SAM EASTMAN
Star Staff Writer

IA 411oJO1 AAA4 Vic lao DCCAA
cleared toward providing pay
ment of traffic accident bills
for the drivers and pedestrians
killed or injured by uninsured
District motorists.
District legal aides and bar
association officers have reached
agreement on a new legislative
proposal for this financial
protection.
Several accident protection
bills for Washington were in
PRODUCED months ago, but no
committee hearings have been
called. One key reason was the
dispute between the District
Buildings legal office and the
bar association on the best
method of coping with the
driver who has little money
and no insurance.
The compromise measure now
being drafted in the District
Corporation Counsel's Office
must still be cleared by the
Commissioners before it is sub
mitted to Congress.
$40 Extra for Tags
The plan, reported yesterday
by George England, director Of
the District Department of
Motor Vehicles, would work this
way:
The driver with no accident
insurance would be required to
pay about $40 before he would
be permitted to buy District
tags. This money would 90
into a financial protection
fund.
This fund would be used to-
ward insurance costs for the
insured motorist for financial
protection on personal injury
bills from an accident with
an uninsured driver.
Under this proposal, the in
Sured driver would pay nothing
extra when he buys his tags.
The fund fed by payments
from the drivers with no in
surance would reimburse the
insurance companies for the
added protection.
The cost of the insurance
policy, however, would go I'D
an estimated SO a year. Even
tually, this extra cost might
be erased by payments to the
insurance companies from the
uninsured driver fund.
The fund also would pay &C
cident bills for the pedestrian
with no insurance protection
who is injured by an uninsured
driver, Mr.. England explained
during an interview on Radio
Station WWDC's Report to
the People" program.
The new proposal for Wash
ington is in line with, but not
identical to, the system used
in Virginia. One difference is
that the Virginia system offers
no protection for the pedes-
train.
In Maryland, the uninsured
motorist must pay about $40
in order to buy State tags. This
fund is supposed to pay the
bills for the victim of the un-
insured driver.
Difference in Approach
The bar association had been
backing provisions similar to
the Virginia system. The Dis
trict Commissioners have been
supporting a bill calling for a
system similar to the one in
Maryland.
The measure being drafted
also would require an insurance
payment at least as large as the
uninsured driver fund payment.
This provision is designed to
block a practice that has
plagued officials in some States
of a driver canceling his in
surance policy as soon as he
buys his auto tags.
Chester H. Gray, the Dis
trict's corporation council, said
the new driver protection pro-
posals for the city are being
submitted to insurance under
writer's for their comments.
District law does not now
require a motorist to carry in
surance. If he is involved in an
accident, however, his license to
drive may be suspended until
he pays the accident costs.