Chicago DUI lawyer says soon you will go to jail for driving without insurance

This Chicago DUI lawyer was worried that legislation making driving without insurance could literally land a person in jail and that worry will be realized as of January 1, 2010. I've posted here, here, and here about the perils of driving without valid insurance.

Public Act 096-0143

AN ACT concerning transportation, which may be referred to

as the Michael Dean Law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,

represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing

Section 3-707 as follows:

(625 ILCS 5/3-707) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 3-707)

Sec. 3-707. Operation of uninsured motor vehicle - penalty.

(a) No person shall operate a motor vehicle unless the

motor vehicle is covered by a liability insurance policy in

accordance with Section 7-601 of this Code.

(a-5) A person commits the offense of operation of

uninsured motor vehicle causing bodily harm when the person:

(1) operates a motor vehicle in violation of Section

7-601 of this Code; and

(2) causes, as a proximate result of the person's

operation of the motor vehicle, bodily harm to another

person.

(a-6) Uninsured operation of a motor vehicle under

subsection (a-5) is a Class A misdemeanor.

(b) Any person who fails to comply with a request by a law

enforcement officer for display of evidence of insurance, as

required under Section 7-602 of this Code, shall be deemed to

be operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

These are extraordinarily tough economic times. It's a given that no one wants to have an accident. You certainly don't want to have an accident where someone gets hurt and not have inusrance. It used to be the fear was an inability to pay the injured party for their damages. Now, the individual driving without insurance has to worry about going to jail. As a Chicago DUI lawyer and as a former city prosecutor I've seen several accidents where a party didn't have insurance. That doesn't mean they should be facing jail. I've heard, on numerous occassions that the spouse or an ex-spouse by court decree was responsible for paying the bill and had paid late. Are these the types of people we want facing jail?