Oklahoma Statutes require that all motor vehicles which are operated on our roads and high-

ways must be covered by a valid policy of automobile insurance providing $25,000.00 (minimum) in

liability coverage. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma Insurance Commission estimates that at least one

fourth of all Oklahoma drivers do not have liability insurance coverage, which is one of the reasons

why insurance rates in Oklahoma are among the highest in the nation.

Oklahoma’s two largest cities are undertaking new initiatives to address the above problem:

A. The Tulsa Sheriff’s Department, in cooperation with the Insurance Commission,

will conduct a series of safety checkpoints over the next several weeks which will target uninsured

drivers. Drivers caught without the required liability coverage could face arrest, fines, the loss of

their driver’s license, and their uninsured vehicle could even be impounded.

B. Oklahoma City is using $260,000.00 in Federal grant money to equip 16 police

cruisers with automated license plate scanners which will provide officers with near instantaneous

information regarding whether the vehicle is legally registered, is stolen, or has been involved in or

used in a crime or similar situations. While the new scanners are not intended to be used to conduct

random sweeps for uninsured motorists when they are first put into service, it would only require

some relatively minor software adjustments for insurance information to also be displayed by the

automated scanners.