Driving without insurance
by
According to the Dept of Safety: 243,000 drivers in Tennessee have suspended or revoked licenses.
That’s a quarter of a million motorists.
A frightening number of the state’s 4.4 million drivers break the law every day by not keeping automobile insurance, as mandated by state law.
Here are some more facts and figures from my friends at the dept. Of safety:
Last year 44,000 Tennesseans had their driver’s license revoked or suspended.
Last year 32,000 Tennesseans got pulled over and could not prove they had insurance.
Why should you care?
Because sooner or later one of these uninsured menaces is going to run into you or someone you know.
It happened to dawn Kleiser who is 26 and 8 months pregnant with her first baby.
“Was it nerve racking being pregnant and getting into a little fender bender?,” I ask the cheerful woman.
“Very much so,” she says without hesitation. “It was really, really scary cause I was afraid something happened to the baby”
Kleiser says April 21st, she is entering a fast food parking lot when another motorist suddenly roars out of the parking space in reverse smashing into her little red car.
“She put it in reverse and hit the gas.”
Kleiser’s Honda Civic is knocked violently, causing, she says two thousand dollars worth of damage.
“My car went into the air.”
Klesier has never been in an accident before. She says she is stunned and all she can think to do is call metro police.
“I was nervous. Had never been in an accident before.”
Because there are no injuries, and the incident happens on private property, dispatchers tell Kleiser to exchange information with the other driver who Kleiser claims never once gets out of her car.
“Did she get out and say ma’am are you ok?,” I ask.
“No she was too worried about getting her lunch.”
I shake my head.
“She hits you and she doesn’t even get out of her car?”
“Nope. I am not sure why she put it into reverse to begin with. I am still wondering about that. So I got out and asked her what happened? And she say, obviously I just hit you. Yes. Obviously so.”
Kleiser says the other driver identifies herself as Chiquita Hall who admits she’s at fault and she has no insurance.
“Describe her demeanor. Was it non-chalant? I know I just hit you, but now get out of my face I am eating fries?”
Kleiser laughs. “Yes.”
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“So you say ma’am can I get your DL? What does she say?”
“She had an I.D. But would not let me look at it. She wrote all the info down for me and when I asked for her insurance she kind of chuckled ‘Well how can I do that I dont’ have any and I said that’s great.”
Kleiser tells me that her insurance company is on the hook for the lion’s share of the damage, and she is on the hook for the 200-dollar deductible which says could be better spent on baby clothes.
“This is Messed Up. I have to have insurance it is the law and she can drive around with no insurance and not even get in trouble for it. It ”
News 2 has looked into Chiquita Hall.
According to metro police, the 23 year old has been arrested 7 times in the last 5 years for driving on a suspended or revoked license.
The Dept of Safety confirms that the day of the wreck: Hall’s license was revoked.
Traffic authorities also tell Messed Up that the young woman has been involved in at least 2 motor vehicle collisions. The Dept of Safety says Hall was found at fault on one of these cases and she has yet to make restitution to the other victims.
I went to Hall’s home. I knocked on her door. I called two numbers I had in my possession. One I got from official documents, the other was a number she reportedly gave to Kleiser. One number is disconnected. The other number is not activated.
While nobody answers, I do find the grand am.
The bumper is dented and covered with red paint that Kleiser maintains came from the impact with her little red car.
I go to Capitol Hill and talk with a man who should have a dog in this hunt. He is State Representative Charles Sargent who is an insurance agent of 35 years.
The veteran law maker says he has never seen That Is Messed Up, but he says the scenario I describe to him is just that.
I tell Sargent the state needs to crack down. He says he agrees and supplies me with a plausible idea.
“Anyone can make a mistake and let their insurance slip, but let’s say for 2nd and 3rd time offenders, chronic offenders, who have been convicted the 2nd time or third time. I say let’s put them in the work house. Make them pay for it. Let them go out and work, then make them come back to the work house. Make them pay the expense. No tax payers dollars for this. Make them make restitution. That way a person will think, If I have to stay in Metro Work House for two or three weeks. Hmmmm, They would have a different thought about maybe breaking the law then.”
Sargent smiles. I think he likes this idea.
I get in his grill and ask him if he plans to pitch to his law maker friends on the hill. He says he will.
I have my doubts, but we will see.
So this is where it all stands:
Police tell me they’ve arrested hall at least 7 times.
We asked the metro prosecutors office how Hall keeps getting out of jail.
A spokeswoman for the D.A.’s office says most of her charges are “B” misdemeanors. She says Hall either pleads guilty and pays a fine or she serves her time in jail.
Oh yeah?
The Metro jail tells me ms Hall has spent, get this, 2 days…six hours…and 20 minutes in the Davidson County Jail.
2 days and six hours in jail for a wrap sheet that stretches back years.
Tell me the system is not Messed Up.
Kleiser certainly thinks it is.
“When I tell you she has as many as 7 arrests for not having a valid driver’s license, what do you think?”
“It absolutely amazes me she is on the road and not in jail!!
I think that these kind of drivers are just as dangerous if not more so as someone with a DUI. The fines and punishment go up on each DUI with certain mandatory fines and punishments. I think that repeat offenders of this type should have the same kind of system in place in the law. I mean what if this Hall woman had caused injury to MS Keisler or her unborn child then we would be talking serious criminal charges. How many chances does Ms Hall get before someone has to be injured, maimed or killed do to her bad driving and bad attitute toward the law. Driving is a priviledge not a right.
I have epilepsy, and did not have a license for 4 years because of seizures. I never drove because I did not want to risk hurting someone. It was never because of the insurance. I do not understand why people are not made to take responsibility for their actions. The lady in the story should not be out on the street if she cannot be trusted. What if she seriously hurts someone? Who will take responsibility then? If not her,and the state knows about her history, then maybe it should be them.
Hello, my name is Pierria Parks and I think that is messed
up for what she did to that lady’s car and they should addd on the cases from all of the incidents that she was involed
in, and she should desrve mor than 6days in prison. If I was
the juge,I wuold have added the cases from the incedents
that she did in the past and gave her two years in jail, and plus driving without car insurense,I would have added two
more years on. And trust me she would have deserved it.
don’t lump all insured drivers w/ Ms Hall. I was involved in an accident Oct 2006. I was T-boned here in Nashville. I am a working single woman w/ an disabled parent I care for. I am the only breadwinner in my household. With just basics and I mean BASICS, no cable, no highspeed internet, no crazy vacations. Just food, H2O, telephone, cell phones, regular internet, gas, car note, etc. Ends dont always come together at the end of month. My insurance had elapsed. when faced w/ choice between food and my insurance note, i chose groceries. Because of this the accident was automatically my fault, which is fine, but I was not being irresponsible. I have never drank or drugged and drove. I don’t speed. two speeding tickets in my past fixed that urge. I am a very cautious driver, but accidents are called accidents for a reason. I am paying the other drivers insurance company back. that is all i can do, this does not making me irresponsible. Even if Ms. Hall was insured, she is a careless driver w/ no compassion for others on the road as she proves by her behavior. Insurance would not change her habits, it would just make an insurance company responsible for the financial responsibities she would surely abandon. Don’t lump all un-insured motorists w/ her. some of them have no choice. As it stand now I am $12,000 in debt from this accident as I am paying for his damage and teh lien on my now totaled car. I have insurance on my current car, but sometimes, I have to pay it instead of buy food for me and my mom. this is not fair either.
Just another viewpoint..
Sincerely, Chianti Mercer
I think this is messed up.
Although I agree with Chianti, because I understand about not making ends meet, but let me tell you, it is the law and if one person who lives paycheck to paycheck has to follow it, so should everyone else, including the people with no trouble paying there bills…you should have to pay for the accident, and I commend you for doing that. Way to take care of things!
A situation happened to my wife, Someone backed into her in the Hometown Buffet parking lot in Rivergate, after much debate with the insurance company of the other lady, they deemed my wife responsible and said they wanted us to pay for the other persons car as well. She backed into my wife and we get stuck being responsible for paying for both cars NOW THAT IS MESSED UP. As this situation, it was on private property so Metro would not come to it. I think that is messed up too. Our insurance would not even talk to the other company until we pay our deductibe, then they said it could be years before we see our money again.
What about the illegals that are now driving without licenses since TN doesn’t issue them licenses? They don’t know the rules of the road now, and they can’t get insurance even if they wanted to. They may not be able to get a license, but they still drive. They should be able to get insurance. Just because you stop issuing driver licenses to them doesn’t get them automatically off the road. This is a safety and financial hazard as well.
Thats the problem with this world. there are dead beats out here that dont have to do anything right and get by with it. if it had been me. i probly would have gotten a ticket for no insurance. oh excuse me im a law biding citizen i have insurance.
what is wrong with chiquita hall? driving is not that hard and watching where your going isn’t either. let me tell you about the kind of person i think ms.hall is: she’s the one who throws dirty diapers out of car windows on the road. she probably has junk cars in her yard and wore out sofas on her porch. she is probably habitually late for work/school and makes no apologies to anyone for her tardiness and inconveniences to everyone else. she most likely thinks the world “owes her” for even being born. hmmmm, maybe it all began with her momma who couldn’t think of an original name for her little girl so named her after a bunch of bananas!