Comment: What do you think of the tougher insurance requirements?

By STEPHEN THOMPSON
The Tampa Tribune

ST. PETERSBURG - Anyone convicted of drunken driving for the first time will have to carry significantly greater car insurance coverage under a bill Gov. Charlie Crist signed in a ceremony in front of the St. Petersburg Police Department today.

The drunken driver’s policy must have bodily injury insurance in the amount of $100,000 per person, with a maximum of $300,000 per wreck, plus $50,000 in property damage insurance, said Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, one of the sponsors of the bill.

Since the 1970s, those with a history of drunken driving have been required to carry only $10,000 in bodily injury insurance per person and $20,000 per incident, according to the Florida Justice Association, a trial attorney group which supported the legislation. Those numbers are “dangerously low” in light of today’s medical costs, the association said.

The drunken driver who rammed into the back of Chris Prati’s motorcycle in 2003 had a so-called $10,000/$20,000 policy, said Prati’s sister, Susan Hingle, who attended the ceremonial bill signing Thursday with her brother, who was in a wheelchair.

Prati’s medical bills ran into the millions, Hingle said. Though Medicaid picked up the bulk of the expenses, their mother has had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses, Hingle said. Prati suffered traumatic brain injury and cannot talk or move much on his left side.

Any driver who fails to acquire the increased coverage following his drunken driving conviction won’t be able to renew his registration or his driver’s license, said Paul D. Jess, deputy executive director of the Florida Justice Association.

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