Michael A. Schafer Blog

Auto Accidents

11/11/2008
Mike Schafer
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A New Trend in Car Accident Services

In July of this year the small town of Radcliff, Kentucky put into effect a new ordinance that requires payment for services after an auto accident. These services include police and fire services. Radcliff has modeled their ordinance after a similar one in effect in Erlanger, Kentucky.

Basically, the ordinance states that if you are the cause of an accident and don’t live in that city you will be charged for police and fire services. The thought process behind the ordinance is that the tax payers of the particular city should not have to pay for accidents caused by people from out of town.

After an accident in one of these cities a bill for the services are sent to a recovery service that will then bill the driver’s insurance. Some insurance companies will pay the fee but most won’t. They will then forward the bill to the driver. Many worry that insurance costs will rise due to the taxes that are surfacing in many towns across the country. According to an article in USA Today during the past few years cities in at least 15 states have passed ordinances requiring at-fault drivers to pay up.

Other concerns relate to the thought process that a driver may have after an accident, should they call the police and what will the charges be if the police respond. Lack of an accident report because of no police response can affect the speed that an accident victim receives payment for their property damage and rental car from the at-fault insurance company. The insurance adjuster will have to speak with their driver to determine fault. If there is an accident report prepared by the police a determination can be made without a statement from the at-fault driver if the cause of the accident is obvious from the report.

I have concerns with this type of procedure. Should I be taxed or charged for the police and fire department doing their job? Will this have an affect on public safety if response is based on payment? How long will it be before all at-fault drivers are charged regardless of their county of residence. What type of affect can this have on an individuals credit when they might be billed hundreds of dollars they had no idea they were incurring? I believe this is a dangerous precedent. I would like to see the statistics from the collections and the affect on the drivers as well as the cities that are imposing the fee.

For more information on Louisville, Kentucky personal injury attorney Mike Schafer go to www.mikeschaferlaw.com.