Oregon City to Put Brakes on Uninsured Drivers

This city is ready to drop a hammer on uninsured drivers.

The City Council is expected in two weeks to pass an ordinance that will allow police to impound a driver’s vehicle until proof of insurance is furnished and towing and storage fees are paid. Authorities say the measure is part of a crackdown on gangs, cruisers and uninsured motorists in general.

The law had been in the works for several months but was put on “the fast track,” according to an aide to Mayor Bud Clark, “after a recent spate of drive-by shootings.”

In Portland, as elsewhere, uninsured drivers are a growing problem. Barney Jones, research analyst at the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles, estimates that about 10% of Oregon’s drivers--about 15% in the Portland area--are uninsured. Insurers put the figure at closer to 20% or 25%.

In any case, says Jones, “nearly 20% of all accidents will involve an uninsured driver.”

(Lynn Marowitz, a research analyst for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said 21% of all California drivers were found to be uninsured in a 1990 study. In the Los Angeles area, the figure was 34%.)

Impounding the vehicles of uninsured drivers could help the police deal with gang members, who often drive unregistered, uninsured cars, said police Lt. John Hren. As the Oregonian newspaper put it in an editorial, “you can’t do a drive-by shooting if you can’t drive by.”

But the measure could have other benefits, said Hren, noting that “it is also a tool to deal with cruisers who clog the downtown streets on weekend nights.” And, he said, it could be used against uninsured drivers generally.

Currently, Portland police seize cars driven by repeat drunken drivers and customers of street prostitutes. City Commissioner Earl Blumenauer, who proposed that law, credits it with contributing to a 62% drop in alcohol-related fatalities over three years.

An ordinance that allows police to tow away vehicles driven by uninsured drivers has been in effect in the neighboring town of Gresham, with favorable results, said Don Brown, an independent insurance broker there.

“We usually have one uninsured motorist accident every seven to 10 days, about 3 1/2 each month,” said Brown. “In August we had one. In September we had zero. We’ve never had zero in 10 years. So far this month we’ve had none.”

Gresham police Lt. Craig Walliker says that since the law went into effect May 1, 364 cars have been impounded. About half of those have never been claimed.