One of the most brilliant men I ever knew worked in real estate, not houses but tracts of land. He sold and bought and developed constantly, so he was on the road all the time. He argued that because he drove so many miles he paid a tremendous amount on gas tax and therefore should get a number of his traffic violations overlooked. If he accidentally ran a stop sign or sped, his ratio of violations were no higher than the guy who just drove back and forth to work. I never could argue with that logic.
“If you’re driving that much, you should be really good at it, and should never make a mistake.”
In a way he’s right—but he should have to pay more insurance too. His additional time on the road meant a higher probability that he would be in an accident and a higher than average wear on the road, arguably.
I’ve always thought there should be an additional charge on the price of gasoline that would fund liability insurance for every driver. This would be assessed at the pump. Drivers who wished to carry collision insurance could procure it through the regular channels, and high risk drivers could be assessed additional charges in court, paid on say, a monthly basis.
Before anyone objects consider the advantages: It would encourage economy: larger gas guzzlers would pay more, reflecting the greater damage they’re apt to cause in a collision and in wear and tear of the road. It would equably account the higher use and risk by those who use the roads more frequently. Finally,, and most importantly, it would get rid of the havoc caused by uninsured drivers.