Legislation to Impound Uninsured Vehicles Advances in Oklahoma

Legislation that would allow law enforcement in Oklahoma to impound uninsured vehicles is one step away from becoming law.

House Bill 2331, by state Rep. Steve Martin and state Sen. Gary Stanislawski, passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives 93-3 and the Oklahoma Senate 41-4. It now goes to the governor.

The bill would allow law enforcement, upon making a traffic stop, to seize an uninsured vehicle and have it towed to an impoundment lot until it can be legally redeemed by the owner.

Martin said that House Bill 2331 would take advantage of a recently activated instant-verification system available to law enforcement officers. The system allows officers to determine within seconds of a traffic stop if vehicles are covered by qualifying liability insurance.

“Law enforcement officers can now enter a license tag number into a data base and know immediately if a car is insured,” Martin said.

The instant verification system, ordered by an act of the state legislature in 2006, has been created through cooperation of the insurance industry and the State of Oklahoma. It is now fully operational and has been available to law enforcement for several months.

Up to this time, however, law enforcement has had no power to seize an uninsured vehicle. Many times the uninsured driver who was the cause of an accident would be allowed to drive away from the scene while the innocent victim, whose car was disabled in the accident, was towed by a wrecker.

Source: Oklahoma House of Representatives

Topics Legislation Law Enforcement Oklahoma