Florida drivers would be required to carry bodily injury (BI) liability insurance coverage under a proposed measure passed by the State Senate last week by a wide margin.
Currently every owner and registrant of a motor vehicle in the state must maintain Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. PIP pays for injuries a driver or passenger incurs in an accident regardless of who was at-fault in the accident.
By contrast, BI coverage pays for medical expenses and lost wages a driver causes to another if the driver is at fault in the accident.
Introduced by State Sen. Danny Burgess (R-Zephyrhills), SB 54 was passed by the Senate on April 14 by a vote of 38 to 1.
Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) said that the vote is key to protecting all drivers.
“For everyone’s protection, drivers must be insured at sufficient levels,” he said. “It’s the right time for Florida to move to mandatory coverage for bodily injury liability.”
Spring Hill car accident attorney Jason M. Melton, Esq. of Whittel & Melton said that he would be very glad to see Florida’s no-fault law repealed.
“It’s not that people don’t have car insurance, it’s that most people don’t have enough car insurance,” Melton said. “In the current system drivers have to purchase extra protection with uninsured motorist coverage (UM) to have any kind of security. With mandatory bodily injury coverage (BI) most all car accident victims will have some kind of protection. Incredibly, the current law doesn’t require drivers to buy BI coverage, so many don’t.”
SB 54 now moves to the House for review.
