file photoOKLAHOMA CITY -
If you live in Oklahoma you are paying more for car insurance than almost any other state in the country.
That's according to insure.com who recently ranked the most expensive places to buy auto insurance. Oklahoma ranked second on the list. Louisiana was first.
The website says one of the main reasons rates are so high in the
Sooner state is because of the high number of uninsured drivers. According to
the Insurance Research Council an estimated 24 percent of Oklahoma drivers are
uninsured.
Oklahoma has passed legislation in the past three years to crack
down on uninsured drivers. News 9 spoke with Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner
John Doak to see if the new laws are working and what else the state is doing
to combat the problem.
"We're paying for
a lot of folks who are driving without insurance on a daily basis," said Doak.
Lawmakers have
passed some legislation to deal with the issue. In 2009 a computerized
system went into effect that allows law enforcement to check if a driver has
insurance. And in 2010 a law went into effect that allowed law enforcement to
tow uninsured vehicles.
Doak says those
laws are helping a little, but not dealing with what he sees as the main
problem.
"It's less
expensive to pay the fine then it is to buy the insurance and no one wants to
talk about it, but that's the major issue right now," said Doak.
Doak has started a
task force to deal with the issue. They are looking at new legislation
that includes stiffer penalties for uninsured drivers.
Doak also says the
state needs better education so drivers understand the importance of being
protected.
