My First LEO Contact

[TxDrifter]

So, on March 1st, some jerk decided he had to blow through a red light and plow up the side of my truck. When the DPS officer arrived, he never said a word and just did his write up. I was more worried about the reaction of the guy who hit me than I was the officer when I handed over both licenses. It was uneventful and my only surprise was them allowing someone with no insurance to drive off. FYI, I did have it on me as well as two more in my shooting bag in the back seat as well as my .308.

[AEA]

Yep, that bugs me too. I pay for insurance and it is the law. If they don't have insurance, they should go to jail!

They don't let a drunk driver drive off do they? Then why would the let someone wihtout insurance drive off?

[MTICop]

Sorry to hear about your wreck but am glad your first LEO contact was a non-event. Hope you're ok.

[ELB]

Yep, that bugs me too. I pay for insurance and it is the law. If they don't have insurance, they should go to jail!

They don't let a drunk driver drive off do they? Then why would the let someone wihtout insurance drive off?

San Antonio has an ordinance that allows the police to impound your car if you do not have current proof of insurance. Thus, had your wreck been handled there, by the SAPD, there is a chance at least the other guy would have been walking home. The flip side of this is that if you forgot to put the new insurance form in your glovebox when it came in mail a couple weeks ago and you just have the expired one, you could be walking home yourself. Which depending on how badly your car got dinged, maybe you did anyway.

Bummer about the accident. Glad you were not hurt.

[boomerang]

They don't let a drunk driver drive off do they? Then why would the let someone wihtout insurance drive off?

[TxDrifter]

Apparently you are correct. Depending on who responds that will determine if it gets impounded. HPD and Shenandoah do this from what I understand. DPS responded though since it was on the Interstate and they don't do that. Admittedly he had a bad situation with a divorce as to why he didn't have it, but that allows him my sympathy, but not a free pass. He should have had the insurance continued. I never dropped mine during my divorce.

He actually told me he might get arrested since he didn't renew it. He was well aware that it was a possibility. Maybe they will do something like Colorado does. As soon as you are found not reported with insurance in their database they send a letter and within 60 or 90 days with no proof they revoke your registration and driver's license.

I am alright though, my truck, not so well. I should be getting it back by the end of this week though.

[tfrazier]

I know that if we impounded every no insurance violator we encountered back when I was a cop we'd have had to rent a few hundred acres to expand the impound lot. Unfortunately, sometimes it just boils down to a combination of economic feasibility and officer discretion (but officer discretion is being more limited by the brass and judicial system every day, which is part of the reason I got out of the business).

[bubba1876]

City of Dallas impounds non insured drivers cars, now. If they are pulled over for speeding and have no liabilty insurance their car is towed.