The world’s largest traffic enforcement equipment supplier, the Sensys Gatso Group, has announced that its statewide managed services program for Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement in Oklahoma is scheduled to begin on November 1.
Since the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council (DAC) awarded the contract to the company’s subsidiary Sensys Gatso USA in November 2017, the State of Oklahoma has undertaken a comprehensive restructuring of their insured vehicle database that, until now, had prevented the enforcement program from being implemented.
With the database restructuring now completed, Sensys Gatso has been informed by the State of Oklahoma that the program is free to commence enforcement, effective early November. The one-year contract, with single year extensions for up to five years and with performance-based compensation, is estimated to be worth US$2m, with revenue expected to begin in late December 2018.
The state of Oklahoma is fighting back against uninsured vehicles on its roads and the Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion Program (UVED) is the first of its kind in the country. The program will use automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) camera systems to monitor Oklahoma’s roadways to capture and identify the license plates of uninsured vehicles.
Lawmakers created UVED in 2016, after statistics showed one out of four drivers in the state did not have insurance, despite the fact that Oklahoma law requires all drivers to carry liability coverage. At that time, Oklahoma was ranked number one in the USA for uninsured motorists and surprisingly, in an accident involving two Oklahoma vehicles, there was a 50% chance that one of the vehicles was uninsured. This cost the state nearly US$9m in lost revenue from taxes on insurance premiums, not to mention the enormous costs surrounding medical bills and property damage passed on to insured drivers through premium rises.
The managed service program delivered by Sensys Gatso will use fixed and mobile ALPR cameras. If a unit detects a vehicle without insurance, the owner will receive a ‘Notice to Respond’ with a US$174 fee. A unique aspect of the program is the combination of two powerful tools: Sensys Gatso’s Puls software platform, and Xilium back-office processing and fulfilment software, each tethered to the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) database.
Puls is a platform that blends static sources such as license plate information captured by the ALPR cameras deployed across the state with dynamic data sources such as the insured vehicle database. Real-time detection and data merging will deliver an active enforcement program connected to the constantly updating OID database. Through its Xilium back-office software and fulfilment suite Sensys Gatso will be able to efficiently process and fulfil the ‘Notices to Respond’. The first of its kind in the USA, the program is one that is likely to be replicated in other states across the country.
“The goal of this new program is for all drivers to have at least the minimum required amount of liability insurance. When an uninsured motorist causes a crash, innocent motorists are often forced to pay for repair bills, property damage and hospital bills,” explained Brian Hermanson, chairperson of the Oklahoma DAC. “The new UVED program will help change that, and we believe it will also create safer roads for all drivers in Oklahoma.”
