There are millions of drivers on the roads across Georgia, and most of them do their best to be safe and responsible drivers. From following the law regarding not drinking and driving to carrying adequate liability insurance, most drivers actively try to protect themselves on the road.
Unfortunately, there is a minority of drivers in Georgia who will make less responsible decisions. Some people will text at the wheel or decide to drive home after drinking. Others make financially irresponsible decisions, like not renewing or paying the premium for their motor vehicle liability insurance.
You could potentially get into a crash caused by a driver who doesn’t have insurance to cover the costs of the property damage or injuries that you suffered.
What can you do after a crash with an uninsured driver?
Police officers responding to the scene of a crash involving an uninsured driver are likely to issue a citation to the driver without a policy because state law mandates coverage. However, that citation won’t do much to protect you as the victim of the crash.
You will have a few options, depending on your personal situation. Reviewing your insurance policy to determine whether you have uninsured driver coverage is a good first step. This kind of coverage will allow you to make a claim against your own insurance policy to cover your costs because the other driver didn’t have insurance.
If you don’t have uninsured driver coverage or if you do have the coverage but your costs exceed the amount of coverage you purchased, you may need to bring a civil lawsuit against the driver without insurance.
How likely are you to encounter an uninsured driver?
Given that driving without insurance puts people in a bad financial position, you might think that uninsured drivers are a rare thing. However, according to research by the Insurance Information Institute, roughly 12% of drivers don’t have active insurance coverage in Georgia.
This figure places Georgia at number 25 in the nation, right in the middle of the pack. There are certainly other states that have much higher rates of drivers without insurance, but there are also many states that have fewer uninsured drivers. In other words, in a nationwide sense, drivers in Georgia have an average degree of risk for a crash with an uninsured driver, as roughly one in every eight drivers or so that they encounter won’t have coverage.