It's a question that our office gets periodically: What percentage of Washington drivers have no insurance?
The short answer is that we're not sure. Our office regulates insurers, agents and brokers, but not the consumers who actually buy the coverage.
But the Pennsylvania-based Insurance Research Council does an annual estimate, based on data collected from nine major auto insurers representing about half the private passenger auto market in the United States.
The states with the highest percentages, the IRC estimates, are in the South. The lowest states are about evenly split between the Midwest, intermountain West and the Northeast.
The most recent report uses 2007 data. Washington came in fairly high, with an estimated 18 percent of drivers -- one in six -- uninsured. Oregon and Idaho were much lower: 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively. The top two spots were Mississippi, with 28 percent, and New Mexico, with 29 percent.
Here is the IRC's breakdown of states, by percentage of uninsured drivers:
Alabama = 26%
Alaska = 13%
Arizona = 18%
Arkansas = 15%
California = 18%
Colorado = 15%
Connecticut = 9%
D.C. = 15%
Delaware = 10%
Florida = 23%
Georgia = 12%
Hawaii = 12%
Idaho = 9%
Illinois = 15%
Indiana = 14%
Iowa = 12%
Kansas = 10%
Kentucky = 16%
Louisiana = 12%
Maine = 4%
Maryland = 12%
Massachusetts = 1%
Michigan = 17%
Minnesota = 12%
Mississippi = 28%
Missouri = 14%
Montana = 15%
Nebraska = 8%
Nevada = 15%
New Hampshire = 11%
New Jersey = 8%
New Mexico = 29%
New York = 5%
North Carolina = 12%
North Dakota = 5%
Ohio = 16%
Oklahoma = 24%
Oregon = 11%
Pennsylvania = 7%
Rhode Island = 14%
South Carolina = 9%
South Dakota = 7%
Tennessee = 20%
Texas = 15%
Utah = 8%
Vermont = 6%
Virginia = 9%
Washington = 16%
West Virginia = 8%
Wisconsin = 15%
Wyoming = 9%
