Utah, today, becomes the first state to prohibit the sale of its motor vehicle lists since the U.S. Supreme Court. affirmed the five-year-old federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act in January.
Under legislation 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 Vehicle’s 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, State Senator Karen Hale, Salt Lake City, the measure (SB-174) guarantees Utah residents that their personal information is protected.
The law (HB-243) sealing accident reports from everyone but the people actually involved in the accident, law enforcement authorities, researchers and under vaguely defined circumstances to the news media, was sponsored by State Representative Glenn Way of Spanish Fork.
He explained 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.
Both laws, it was noted, comply with the mandates of a $49 billion federal transportation aid bill President Clinton signed into law last fall requiring 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.
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