Ohio signs Uber insurance legislation

Ohio signs Uber insurance legislation.

Ohio signs Uber insurance legislation making it safer to take rides from Transportation Network Companies. An issue that many of us Toledo Ohio personal injury attorneys have had with the ride sharing apps is that our clients have been at risk of being under-insured if they were injured while using one of these services. Up until now there has been a major problem of not having enough insurance to cover their injuries if they were unfortunately involved in an accident. Imagine if your driver just carried the bare minimum liability coverage in Ohio. That’s $25,000.00. If your driver caused an accident where you were left paralyzed, the maximum amount that you could recover from your driver was the $25,000.00. Of course, you could get a personal judgment against the driver. However, unless the driver was independently wealthy you would never be able to collect enough money from him to pay for your care and maintenance. In such a situation, you would most likely be taken care of by the government – i.e., tax payers.

A new law compelling Transportation Network Companies, such as Uber, to maintain $1 million liability insurance coverage and conduct background checks on their drivers was signed by the Governor of Ohio this week. The new law takes effect in ninety days or on about March 22, 2016. So, while the requirements to have $1 million liability insurance coverage is likely to add a cost to the fare, it’s better that you pay a little extra for the ride then the tax payers pay for your care for the rest of your life. It also brings the Transportation Network Companies into line with other transportation companies, such as buses and taxi cab drivers which are currently regulated by the Ohio Department of Insurance. Regulation is necessary to ensure that citizens are protected from catastrophic events.