Tulsa Car Insurance Requirements – Enough Insurance Coverage?

Don’t depend on the required Tulsa car insurance coverage to protect you.

Thinking that this will never happen to you is not justification for carrying only the required Tulsa car insurance coverage.

The basic liability coverage that is required with all Tulsa car insurance policies doesn’t come anywhere near what you actually need. Most people don’t think that a car accident will ever happen to them so they are not concerned about having a good amount of car insurance coverage.

Unfortunately for them, the car accident statistics from the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Oklahoma Highway Safety Office say otherwise.

Tulsa’s Car Accident Statistics

In 2011, there were 10,364 car accidents in Tulsa. That is an average of 28 car accidents every single day. Now, compared to Oklahoma City who had 15,634 car accidents in 2011 or an average of almost 43 car accidents a day, Tulsa’s car accident statistics look pretty good.

Even though Tulsa has fewer car accidents than Oklahoma City, it also has a smaller population and 28 car accidents a day is still a lot.

From the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, here are some more interesting (and sad) car accident statistics for 10,364 accidents that happened in 2011:

• 43 accidents resulted in a fatality
• 444 accidents had injuries that were incapacitating
• 1653 accidents had basic injuries
• 2259 accidents had possible injuries that were never confirmed

The Required Tulsa Car Insurance

Because of the accidents above, the State of Oklahoma has made it a requirement to carry liability car insurance coverage if you want to drive. Liability coverage pays for the other person’s damages and medical expenses in the event that you cause a car accident. They are there to protect you from other people causing damage to you and your vehicle and not being able to pay for it, and also to protect you from financial ruin in case you do cause an accident.

These required liability coverages are:

• $25,000 to cover damage you do to another person’s property
• $50,000 to cover all medical expenses in an accident if there are multiple injuries
• $25,000 to cover the medical expenses on a single person

Why You Need More than the Required Tulsa Car Insurance

If you drive your vehicle every day, it is just a matter of time before you will be involved in one of those 28 daily accidents. And if you are involved in one of the accidents that are listed above that has an injury or a fatality, your car insurance policy that only includes the required Tulsa car insurance coverage is not going to cover your medical bills.

I can already hear you saying, “But, I am a safe driver and I will never cause an accident”. Well, it only takes a quick glance away from the road from a distraction, bad weather, or any number of small things that can easily lead to an accident that is caused by you. They are called accidents for a reason, you don’t mean for them to happen but they still do.

So if you do cause an accident, you will be better off if you have insurance coverage that pays for your medical expenses. For more information on what coverages you need to add to the required Tulsa car insurance coverage to give you enough protection, contact your insurance agent today.