Tom Sharp remembers the day clearly. Sitting in his car on a Montgomery street, a car driving slowly in front of him stopped, shifted gears and drove in reverse about 100 yards, right into Sharp's car.

"He got out and wanted to take care of it," Sharp said. "To settle things between us."

He told Sharp he was lost and was backing up to look for a house. He later told police he wasn't driving his own car, and gave officers a false address and phone number. He had no registration.

And he had no insurance.

Sharp had been run into by one of the one in four.

That is how many Alabama motorists are uninsured, according to a recent study -- giving Alabama the third highest percentage of uninsured drivers on its roads.

And when there is a wreck, the real cost is the economic cost to those who have insurance, said Lewis Easterly, the state's Department of Revenue secretary -- "No matter who is at fault."

To send a message to the uninsured, the state's Department of Public Safety often can be spotted pulling traffic over at random checkpoints.

In Elmore County on Friday, troopers handed out 48 citations to drivers at a checkpoint at the intersection of Alabama highways 14 and 63. There were 300 cars checked. Eight additional citations were issued in the area of the checkpoint -- for instance, if motorists saw the checkpoint and turned around because they did not have proof of insurance.

The number is lower than the 102 yielded on Jan. 17 in Montgomery at the intersection of Woodley and Virginia Loop roads. There were 198 cars checked.

And the answer to the question -- how does the state decrease its number of uninsured motorists? -- seems easy enough to those who patrol the roads.

Increase checkpoints. Increase contact with the public.

The state's Take Back Our Highways safety campaign -- kicked off in 2007 -- aggressively enforces traffic laws, requiring motorists to produce registration, license and insurance.

That is a start, said Cpl. Steve Jarrett, spokesman with the Alabama Department of Public Safety.

"We've become more proactive through the enforcement initiatives," Jarrett said. "With the motoring public, they are going to be required to produce their credentials."

Since the Mandatory Liability Insurance Act went into effect in 2000, the number of citations has increased from more than 19,000 to 91,000 last year.

Jarrett attributes the increase in citations to greater enforcement -- with the state being "more proactive and doing more checkpoints."

The Mandatory Liability Insurance Act simply states "proof of a motor vehicle liability insurance policy is required."

To help enforce the act, the Department of Revenue started in January 2001 mailing annual questionnaires to registrants, and the owners are asked to certify they have insurance. It is an honesty policy.

Last year, 182,000 questionnaires were mailed out, as well as 107,000 notices of registration suspension for those who did not show they had insurance.

"People tend to ignore the questionnaire, so they get the notice of suspension," Easterly said.

In 2008, about 68,000 people were either cited or went to court. The others -- who might have ignored the notices -- showed proof of insurance and were not fined.

As recently as December, the state mailed out 19,000 questionnaires and 6,800 suspension notices.

The economy

It sounds plausible that the reason more people are driving without insurance might be because the economic downturn has resulted in people no longer being able to afford it. But Easterly doesn't believe that is the case. While the actual number of people may have increased, he said the percentage has remained about the same. Four years ago, about 25 percent of Alabama motorists were uninsured, the same as now.

In 2004, Alabama ranked second nationally at 25 percent, according to the Insurance Research Council.

It's projected that about one in six drivers, or 16.1 percent, across the United States may be driving uninsured by 2010, according to a recent study from the IRC. Although the estimated percentage of uninsured motorists decreased nationally, from 14.9 percent in 2003 to 13.8 percent in 2007, the recent economic downturn is expected to trigger a sharp rise in the uninsured motorist rate.

The recently released study, "Uninsured Motorists, 2008 Edition," estimates the percentage of uninsured drivers nationwide and by state for the period 2005 to 2007.

The IRC estimates the uninsured driver population using a ratio of insurance claims made by individuals who were injured by uninsured drivers to claims made by individuals who were injured by insured drivers.

Ragan Ingram, spokesman with the state Department of Insurance, agrees that with the economy in a downward spiral, it is possible people will cancel their insurance policy.

"You might even see people with insurance go to liability only, in order to save money," he said. "You might see people let the policy drop ... in terms of economic coping."

Alfa spokesman David Rickey has been receiving anecdotal information that people are looking at insurance as a way to save money on monthly bills -- which he said is not unusual when the economy is in a downturn.

"We're trying to tell them that there are ways to save money on premiums," he said. "We are asking customers to not cancel their insurance completely. If there is any time insurance is a safety, it is in a down economy."

The most common thing people are doing is increasing their deductible, which could cost more short term, but on a monthly premium basis would cost a consumer less.

"That's the primary way," Rickey said. "Another way, is you can get discounts for things like having driving education training for youthful drivers. Another is having your home and auto insurance with the same carrier.

"A lot of people are shopping for price right now."

Taking chances

When motorists pay for their car tag, they are asked if they have insurance. If they say yes, they get their tag. There's no proof of insurance required, Easterly said.

Requiring proof when drivers get their tags is only one of the ways the system could be made better, he said.

"Some states are going into a system where if someone stops you, a trooper, policeman, they can enter your tag number into the system and it will pull it up and show whether you have active insurance," he said.

Doing that, though, would require all insurance companies to provide data all to one source.

"Certainly anytime you can get real-time information, that would help," Easterly said. "It would help the law enforcement people."

A first offense in Montgomery County for not having insurance is $100, plus $103 in court costs.

A second offense is $200, plus $103 in court costs.

If there is a third offense, a motorist is required to face a judge.

"I think a lot of people have figured out that the punishment is not as expensive as buying insurance," Ingram said. "So a lot of people take the gamble."

In the meantime, the gamble does not help people like Sharp, whose insurance company had to pay for another driver's mistake, actually mistakes -- the accident and the lack of insurance coverage.

Sharp is of little faith anything will be done to enforce the matter.

"You can try as hard as you want to with the people in the Legislature right now, but they are worthless," Sharp said.

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