Utah Opts Out: Bills make driver and accident data off limits
Last month, Utah became the first state to prohibit the sale of its motor vehicle lists since the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the 5-year-old federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act in January.
Under measures that sailed through both houses of the state legislature, all information about Utah’s licensed drivers and registered vehicle owners in the Division of Motor Vehicles’ files, including accident reports, is off limits to just about everyone except law enforcement personnel, licensed private investigators, accident victims and, under certain circumstances, safety experts, researchers and the news media.
Previously, data about Utah’s 1.8 million licensed drivers and vehicle owners could be obtained for about $2 per registration.
According to its sponsor, Sen. Karen Hale of Salt Lake City, the measure (SB-174) guarantees Utah residents that their personal information is protected.
Another law, HB-243, seals accident reports from everyone but the people actually involved in the accident as well as the other parties previously cited. It was sponsored by Rep. Glenn Way of Spanish Fork.
Way says that his bill was designed to protect the privacy of people involved in auto accidents and to keep their personal information, including their insurance policy numbers, from being improperly disclosed to third parties.
In Compliance
Both laws comply with the mandates of a $49 billion federal transportation aid bill President Clinton signed into law last fall that requires states to obtain the written permission of licensed drivers and registered vehicle owners before making information about them available to third parties for marketing purposes.
