Los Angeles Car Insurance

Los Angeles is not only the highest populated city in California it also ranks the highest in a number of accident categories.

Dropping your car insurance is never a good idea in Los Angeles.

With a population of 3.8 million, you would expect Los Angeles to have a higher number of accidents than other cities in California. Not only does it meet this expectation, but it exceeds it; even when compared to other cities close to its size. So if you are thinking about driving around L.A. without car insurance, you may want to think twice after reading this.

Car Accident Statistics in Los Angeles

In 2010, Los Angeles had 29,354 accidents that resulted in fatalities or injuries per the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). Of these accidents 2,681 involved a pedestrian, and 2,040 of them involved a person on a bicycle. So 16% of the accidents that had a fatality or injury in Los Angeles involved people that weren’t even in a car.

According to the OTS, these numbers cause the city of Los Angeles to rank as the #1 city of its size for total accidents that had a fatality or an injury. It also ranked #3 for having the highest number of pedestrian involved accidents, as well as #2 for the number of bicycle involved accidents.

But, it’s not just the pedestrians and bicyclist that have it hard in this city; apparently drivers that cause accidents in Los Angeles take irresponsibility to the extreme as the city also ranks #1 for the number of hit-and-run accidents. In just 2010, L.A. had 3,275 accidents that resulted in an injury or fatality where the other driver didn’t stick around after they caused the accident and left others to deal with the damage they caused.

I’m not sure about you, but it sure enforces my feelings that L.A. is a nice place to visit, but not live.

Fun Driving Facts about Los Angeles

Los Angeles has some interesting driving laws that aren’t seen in a lot of other parts in the country. If you are ever visiting, you may want to take note of these laws to save yourself from getting an expensive ticket to add to the rest of your travel expenses:

• It is illegal to smoke with a minor child in the car (actually a California wide law).
• Pay special attention to the Carpool Lanes as the rules on how many you are required to have in your car and what vehicles are allowed can change from one freeway to another, and even within the same freeway.
• You are not allowed to honk your horn at another driver unless an accident is imminent.
• Pedestrians have the right-a-way at all intersections even if there is no crosswalk (this probably explains the high number of pedestrian and bicycle related injury accidents).

Los Angeles Insurance Requirements

Los Angeles insurance requirements are set forth by the state, so there are no different requirements once you get into the city limits. State of California insurance requirements include:

• $5,000 for property damage liability coverage
• $30,000 for bodily injury liability coverage total
• $15,000 for bodily injury liability coverage for one person

Compared to other states, California’s insurance requirements are small but they are very strictly enforced by an electronic database. Any California resident caught without insurance will have their vehicle registration suspended, receive a ticket, and could also have their vehicle impounded. So if you are a resident and you wish to keep driving around, make sure you stay compliant.

Just as a side note, you also might want to consider carrying uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage if you drive in Los Angeles a lot, to protect you from all of those hit-and-run drivers.