To: The Texas State House, The Texas State Senate, and Governor Greg Abbott
Protect the victims of hit-and-run
The current mode of funding the victims of hit-and-run comes from the wrong people and is woefully inadequate to cover the costs of the crime. Institute a hit-and-run tax on every vehicle registered in the state and make this a separate line item on the invoice so that people know how much this crime costs Texans annually. Hit-and-run victims deserve to be taken care of at least as well as if they were hit by an at-fault driver with full coverage that remained at the scene, including lost income and pain and suffering. This is a cost that comes from driving, and people that drive need to pay for it.
Why is this important?
Thousands of people are seriously injured every year in TX by hit-and-run drivers. The current fund to help them is seriously under-funded and taken from court fees of common criminals, who are not the ones causing the problem. This is an external cost of driving that needs to be internalized and brought back to drivers. In my hit-and-run the medical bills alone came to almost $200K, not counting the lost income and pain and suffering that were never compensated.