Oklahoma plans to expand uninsured driver ID program in Lawton

If you’re driving without insurance, Oklahoma wants to talk to you. And they’re using Lawton streets to make contact.

Lawton will get additional cameras in coming weeks as Oklahoma’s Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (UVED) Program expands in the city. Lawton already has one camera in the 4700 block of Cache Road, placed there in early 2021 as one of 50 operating in Oklahoma at that time. Now, Lawton is in line for three additional cameras, with tentative locations on South 11th Street at McKinley, Southwest 67th Street at Delta Circle, and the 2000 block of East Gore Boulevard.

The program is coordinated by the Oklahoma District Attorney’s Council, created to stem the number of drivers on Oklahoma roads who don’t have vehicle insurance, said Amanda Couch, program director.

Couch said the program can be traced to 2015, when state law enforcement learned Oklahoma and Florida held the distinction of having the highest uninsured driver rate in the nation (between 24-26 percent). Couch said UVED was actually born in 2018 with implementation of legislation, and the program sent out its first notice in 2019. Today, the program has at least one camera in every judicial and district attorney district in Oklahoma, a total of 79 cameras positioned across the state.

The program’s operation is simple: cameras snap pictures of vehicles and their license plates, then run them against a data base to determine if they have insurance. Those that do are discarded. Those that appear to be in violation of the law are sent to Couch’s office for a decision, with Notices to Respond issued to the vehicle owner showing a picture of the vehicle and its license plate and giving the owner directions on how to proceed.

Couch said the program already is making an impact. UVED has a 75 percent success rate in the past two years, meaning uninsured motorists are enrolling in the UVED program and getting insurance coverage. There were an estimated 350,000 vehicles on the uninsured “hot list” when the program began in 2018; Couch estimated that total is about 192,000 now.

Most drivers are amenable to the notice and resolve the issue. Couch said there has been only one person prosecuted in the five years the program has existed, with conviction and a $250 fine levied in Texas County District Court.

She said Lawton was targeted to receive more cameras to help lessen the number of uninsured drivers here. Each will be placed on a storm siren pole, and UVED has tentatively identified three of 32 locations that could work. Placement is not a foregone conclusion; the locations will be analyzed in person to ensure the sites are suitable.

Couch said the program already has been surprisingly effective in Lawton, noting it has found “quite a few” drivers.

“The more we catch, the more it (number of uninsured drivers) goes down,” she said.

Lawton does present some challenges, because of the number of out-of-state drivers associated with Fort Sill. Garrison Commander Col. James Peay wants to know how those drivers are taken into account.

Couch said UVED only tracks Oklahoma license plates. But the system has captured some military drivers who have registered their vehicles in Oklahoma — meaning they have Oklahoma plates — but insure them through out-of-state carriers who are not in Oklahoma’s system. In those instances, drivers should contact the UVED office and explain the issue, Couch said.

Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren, a victim of an uninsured driver, said the program is a good way to identify uninsured motorists.

“I don’t mind if they want a few more,” he said.

Not everyone appreciates the program’s goals.

Couch said the single person prosecuted for violating the law has sent numerous emails to the UVED office, making his distain clear. She said one of her favorite emails has a Thanksgiving theme that wished the office would have “the most miserable one you ever experience,” with “blessings” ranging from rancid gravy to all their favorite football teams losing by half a dozen touchdowns.