Dear Mahatma: Twice in two years I have been hit by uninsured drivers in cars with expired tags. The first caused $4,000 in damages. The second totaled my car and led to about $8,000 in medical bills. My insurance covered the expenses, but minus the deductible. Every week I notice at least one to three cars with expired tags, which often indicates lack of insurance. I'm angry over the lack of enforcement and the expense it has caused me. -- Furious
Dear Furious: This is a problem with no end, a vicious cycle if there ever was one. That's how it appears to us after writing this column and listening to people over the past nine years.
It's unlawful to operate a motor vehicle in Arkansas without an insurance policy that provides a certain level of coverage. There are penalties for failure to have insurance, all outlined in Arkansas Code Annotated 27-22-101 through 27-22-111. It's in black and white, up to and including impounding uninsured vehicles.
We tried to get a sense of how many people drive without insurance. We failed, mostly, but turned up some interesting numbers.
From the Department of Finance and Administration we learn that there are 2,137,371 licensed drivers as of June 30, the end of the state's fiscal year. We learned that auto insurers, which are required by law to report this information, reported 2,335,358 insured vehicles. Since there is no requirement or way to report uninsured vehicles, who knows how many are out there?
Regarding enforcement, we checked with the Arkansas State Police about this matter. Its troopers, spokesman Bill Sadler said, gave out 9,966 tickets for no vehicle insurance in 2015. Thirty-two of those were for a fourth offense.
How to ensure 2.1 million drivers and 2.3 million vehicles are properly insured? It would take a police state on the scale of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In last week's column, while answering a question about pieces of the Broadway Bridge, we wondered what happened to the urinal trough at old Ray Winder Field, memorabilia of which was sold to the public.
Bingo! The thing -- about 14 feet long, stainless steel, weighs a lot -- is in the possession of Sean Sorsby of Little Rock. Proud to have it, he is, having bought it from a friend's father. The trough is currently under his backyard deck, but was previously mounted on the side of his previous house.
The trough was fully functional, he said -- and secluded. His wife, Patricia, was okay with the trough. Then she came home while Sorsby and buddies were putting it up.
Sorsby quotes wife: "Oh, my God -- are you kidding me?"
It must be noted that Sorsby is a superintendent for VCC Construction and knows his way around pipes.
"I'm a master plumber and a baseball fan, so it's the best of both worlds. That's why I have it."
Vanity plate on a big ol' honkin' pickup: TRFCJAM.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 09/17/2016