DMV begins citing uninsured motorists again

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999 | 9:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A program of issuing citations to uninsured motorists is being renewed, and officials hope this time around insured motorists will not be victimized.

After a two-month suspension of the program, Ginny Lewis, deputy director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, said the first batch of violation notices was mailed Tuesday.

Lewis told a legislative subcommittee studying the trouble-plagued Genesis computer system that the notices have been checked and rechecked to make sure they are correct.

But Samuel Sorich, vice president of the National Association of Independent Insurers, said he fears there may be a lot of mistakes as happened in the past.

Sorich, in a letter to the department dated Nov. 9, said the new insurance verification system is not operating properly.

"The system's shortcomings have imposed severe hardships on thousands of Nevada drivers and the automobile insurance companies that provide insurance coverage in Nevada," Sorich wrote. "It is not an understatement to say that the insurance verification system is in a crisis stage."

He said motorists in the past were wrongfully notified they were not covered by insurance. They were faced with threats of fines and had to take time away from their jobs to clear up the mistakes, Sorich said.

But Lewis said those notices went out under the old computer system. She said the department has not mailed any cards out since Genesis started Sept. 7. The first 100 notices went out Tuesday and another 100 were to be mailed today. Then there will be batches of 500 daily until the backlog is caught up.

The problem in the past centered on mismatches between the records in the department and the insurance agencies. Sorich said efforts have been made to fix the problem but added, "Immediate improvement is imperative."

A meeting is set for Dec. 9 between the department and insurance representatives.