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Show Hew Utah Motor Safety Law Explained By Safety Commissioner; Law Becomes Effective September 13 Public Safety Commissioner Joseph W. Dudler reminded Utah motorists today that when the state's new Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law becomes be-comes effective September 1, they must be prepared to pay for the damage they cause in accidents, up to $11,000, or have all of their motoring privileges suspended until they do. Citing last year's high accident acci-dent record as an example, Commissioner Dudler said the legislature was not only deeply disturbed about the amount of j careless driving on Utah's highways, high-ways, but also by the fact that "a great, many people irresponsibly irrespon-sibly use every trick and device to avoid even paying for the expense ex-pense they have caused the victims vic-tims of accidents." The new law, therefore, has two primary purposes, pur-poses, the commissioner said, as follows: 1. To require motor vehicle owners and operators who are involved in accidents to pay for the damage they cause or get off. of the road, as either owner or operator, until they. do. .; 2. To facilitate the state's ability to put habitual accident causers off the road permanently as either owner or operator. Commissioner Dudler pointedly pointed-ly declared that the new Safety Responsibility Law is not a compulsory com-pulsory insurance act, saying: "You, as a motor vehicle owner or operator, are not compelled under any condition or circumstance circum-stance to carry insurance. If you become subject to the law's security se-curity section, you have a nura- ber of choices as to how you comply with it. So if anyone tries to tell you this is a compulsory com-pulsory insurance law, you tell them that they don't know what ! they're t alking a bout." I Speaking, to the entire state I in a radio broadcast, Commis- Mr. Scoresby returned to his ihome Sundey. while Miss Rush-I Rush-I ton will spend a few days longer with her friends Judy Halladay and Colleen King. Miss Jolene Rasmussen, of Bell, California, is a guest at the" home of her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Brady. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Wright and children, of Utahn, were Sunday visitors of Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Walters. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby Lisonbee Lison-bee and family, Mr. and Mrs. Verdon Penfield and family, of Roosevelt, enjoyed an outing in Uinta canyon, Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Reed Stansfield and children and George Stansfield Stans-field are visiting relatives in Price. They attended the Price rodeo while there. I sioner Dudler gave the first official of-ficial explanation of how the new law operates, which may be summarized briefly as follows: fol-lows: Beginning September 1, the driver of every car that is involved in-volved in a traffic accident resulting re-sulting in death or injury, or property damage in excess of $25, must file a written report with the Department of Public Safety within 5 days. The security secur-ity requirements do not apply, however, unless the accident caused death or injury, or property pro-perty damage in excess of $100. In that event, an owner or operator op-erator who carried the proper kind of insurance at the time of the accident is not further affected by the Safety Responsibility Respon-sibility Law because it accepts such insurance as proof of ability abil-ity to meet damage, claims up to $11,000. An uninsured driver has a total to-tal of 60 days in which to do any one of the following things: obtain a release from liability signed by all other persons involved; in-volved; obtain a court decree that he is not liable; execute a written agreement to pay all damage claims up to $11,000, or prove that his car was lawfully parked or being driven without his permission at the time of the accident. If an uninsured driver is unable to" do one of these things within 20 days after af-ter the accident, the Department of Public Safety will call upon him to deposit collateral or bond in an amount sufficient to cover damages for which he may be held liable. This may be as little as $101 or as much as $11,000. Should the driver be unable to cover his possible liability with security or bond within the remaining 40 days, the de-. de-. nartment must suspend both his i operator's license and registration registra-tion plates for all cars owned by him. Suspension will remain ' in effect until the law is com-' com-' plied with, or until one year has elapsed without suit for I damages being filed. A plea of innocence of blame cannot be accepted, unless it is in the form of a release by the other parties or a final court decision. The Department of Publis Safety Safe-ty has no jurisdiction whatever in the matter of who was at fault in the accident. |