Oklahoma Uses License Plate Readers To Track State's Uninsured Drivers

If you recently received a $174 citation in the mail from the Oklahoma Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion Program, the state believes that you're driving without car insurance.

The UVED program first started in 2018, but the license plate scanners used were previously placed at busy intersections in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

In November 2020, the state switched vendors and signed a contract with Rekor Systems to provide automated license plate readers. Rekor originally said that it would install 10 readers on lights and telephone poles in its first month and 50 across the state over the next four months.

Now Oklahoma residents in smaller cities like Ponca City are receiving citations from the UVED. Ponca City Police Chief Don Bohan recently wrote a column in the local newspaper to let people know that the citations are real and not part of a scam.

Drivers who receive the citations are asked to pay the fee and sign up for car insurance. If not, drivers can be hit with a $250 fee and a court summons.

In the past two years, the program has enrolled 24,000 people and the money from fines is split between Rekor, the Oklahoma Insurance Department, and fire and police pensions, the Oklahoman reported.

The state says the program is meant to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on the road and ultimately save insured drivers money if they're involved in a wreck.

The program has raised some eye brows, however. Privacy advocates worry about the potential of tracking innocent people going about their everyday lives. Economic and racial justice advocates don't believe it's helping people who can't afford car insurance.

“If insuring drivers is the primary goal, then I think you actually have to focus on the reasons that people aren’t insured. Not just the fact that you aren’t insured. But why aren’t you insured?” Priya Sarathy Jones, national policy and campaign director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, told OneZero, a technology publication.

Photo: Getty Images