Chicago DUI attorney comments on the criminalization of driving without car insurance

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here about being the victim in a car accident.  In Illinois, there is now a new law that penalizes you for driving without insurance.  It’s a Class A misdemeanor.  Class A misdemeanors include DUI and carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail or fines up to $2500 if convicted.

625 ILCS 5/3-707:

 (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.

 Did you notice that the law doesn’t indicate how serious that personal injury must be?  It makes no distinction between going to the hospital and deciding perhaps you don’t need treatment but a couple of aspirin.  Additionally, this law has no defenses for driving a vehicle that isn’t your own or thinking the insurance bill has been paid by your spouse and it hasn’t.  Is this really what you think the law should be?