Electronic Insurance Verification System Being Launched in Oklahoma

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Police across Oklahoma soon will be able to access a new electronic insurance verification system designed to crack down on uninsured motorists.

Five police departments across the state began using the computerized system recently, and state officials say the system should be fully operational in less than two months.

State tag agents have been using it since Oct. 1, said David Beatty, with the state Public Safety Department and project manager for Oklahoma’s compulsory insurance verification system.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol troop headquartered in Lawton also has been testing the system, he said.

“We’re very close,” Beatty said. “We were ready last July. Getting the insurance companies on board has been the real struggle.”

The department wants to make sure all insurance policy information is in the database to ensure law officers have accurate information when they run vehicle tag checks on motorists, Beatty said.

“If we have no records just because the insurance company is not participating, that’s not fair to the consumer,” Beatty said. “We know everything’s working right, but we would like all the companies to be participating so that we are absolutely sure that nobody’s falling through the cracks.”

Beatty said tag agents started using the program in October to run insurance verification checks on every tag renewal and most registrations.

The Bristow, Duncan, Eufaula, Jones and Seminole police departments began using the system last week, he said.

The new system will allow Oklahoma law officers to instantly verify whether a driver is uninsured. The system only checks personal vehicles; commercial vehicles are not on the system.

Marc Young, a spokesman for the state Insurance Department, said it’s estimated about 25 percent of Oklahoma motorists don’t have vehicle insurance. “The current economic situation doesn’t help,” he said.

A law establishing the computerized system was passed in 2006. Delays have been caused by a decision last year to let the Public Safety Department set up and operate the system instead of initial plans to contract with a private vendor.

It’s also taking longer than expected to get all the 165 insurance companies that write personal vehicle liability premiums to share information with the state’s database. Insurance companies are responsible for providing policy information directly to the Public Safety Department.

“For real-time online verification to work, the state must be able to identify on any given day all insurance companies who are actively writing personal lines vehicle policies in Oklahoma,” Beatty said.

Information from: The Oklahoman, www.newsok.com