Accident Records Bill Watered Down : Senate Panel Would Allow Insurance Firms to Buy Some Data

A Senate committee approved on Tuesday a watered-down version of a bill originally aimed at prohibiting the Department of Motor Vehicles from selling information about traffic accidents of a driver who is not cited or found to be at fault.

Automobile insurance companies use such information when they refuse to renew insurance or add big increases to premiums paid by motorists.

The Assembly-passed bill was amended at the request of the opposing insurance lobby to continue to allow access to DMV records if there is no indication of fault in a traffic accident report provided by a law enforcement officer.

Author Objects

The amendment was approved by a 3-2 vote over objections from the bill’s author, Assemblyman Thomas M. Hannigan (D-Fairfield).

It was advocated by Clayton B. Jackson, lobbyist for the influential Assn. of California Insurance Companies, and five other lobbyists for the industry.

The amended bill moved from the Judiciary Committee to the Appropriations Committee on a 9-0 vote.

At first Hannigan said the amendment would destroy his bill and preserve the status quo. Later he said he will be unsure how much adverse effect the amendment would have until he studies it further.

“This is a setback,” he said, “but I am not sure to what degree.”

As now written, the bill would protect only motorists judged free of blame in reports by law enforcement accident investigators.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said the patrol indicates fault in more than 90% of the traffic accidents it investigates.

Many local law enforcement agencies do not investigate non-injury accidents or accidents involving relatively minor damage. No specific figures were immediately available on how many accidents fall into this category.

Hannigan’s bill was inspired by a Fairfield trucker who lost his automobile insurance when his company learned that he had been involved in two accidents within one year.

In both accidents, the other driver was cited by law enforcement officers. The trucker complained to Hannigan, who introduced the legislation.

The Northern California lawmaker said he believes that the action was grossly unfair to his constituent, particularly because he was not to blame for the two accidents.

“I believe that this bill will protect innocent drivers who have suffered from cancellation of insurance policies or an increase in premiums,” Hannigan said.

Records Called Essential

Automobile insurance lobbyists argued that all accident reports and records are essential to proper underwriting and investigation and settlement of claims.

They claimed that prohibiting access to this kind of information could mean that better drivers would end up subsidizing poorer drivers.

Auto insurance companies pay between 80 cents and $2 per name for the information they buy from the DMV, depending on how much data they want and the method used to obtain it.

State law requires all drivers to file a report with the DMV within 10 days if they are involved in an accident resulting in more than $500 property damage or personal injury or death.

Reports on traffic accidents investigated by law enforcement officers also go into the DMV files.

State law presently allows the release of all accident records, regardless of who was at fault, for 37 months from the date of the accident.

Hannigan’s bill cleared the Assembly by a 56-11 vote in mid-June with little debate.