Lawmakers were right to try to keep uninsured motorists off the state’s roads. However, the system put in place clearly doesn’t work and money and time are needed to fix it. In the meantime, softening the tone of letters the Bureau of Motor Vehicles now sends out – often needlessly – should help minimize public anger about the bungled situation.

About 90,000 of the state’s motorists have no insurance and more than 5,100 uninsured motorists were involved in traffic accidents in 2003. To curb the problem, lawmakers last session passed a bill requiring insurance companies to notify the state when Maine drivers cancel their car insurance. Once the BMV receives notification of the cancellation, it sends out a letter saying a driver’s registration and license plates will be suspended unless “corrective action” is taken. This includes filling out a form on the secretary of state’s Web page or mailing, faxing or presenting to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles proof of active insurance.

The problem is that people cancel insurance policies for a variety of valid reasons. Maybe they sold or traded in an old car and canceled the insurance on it. The BMV knows this, but doesn’t know they immediately purchased insurance for a new vehicle. A harshly worded letter is sent out. Maybe they canceled their car insurance with one company to buy a less expensive policy from another. The BMV sees the cancellation; it doesn’t see the new policy. Out goes the letter. It is possible as many as 200,000 letters could be sent by the end of the year, only a fraction of them to people who are really in violation of state law by not having valid car insurance.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap agrees there’s a problem and says he wants to fix it. His first step is to revise the letter by toning down its language and by acknowledging there are in-stances, such as the sale of an old vehicle and purchase of a new one or a change in insurance carriers, where the letter is unnecessary.

Better yet, the department should ensure that the letters don’t go out in the first place. The best solution is to have insurance purchases, as well as cancellations, reported to the department so its computer system can reconcile them. This coupled with a brief waiting period before letters are sent out should do away with most of the problem.

Complicating the situation is the fact that the Secretary of State’s Office is in the midst of transitioning to a new computer system. Adjusting the insurance reporting portion of the system would delay work on the driver’s license portion of the system and would also cost up to an additional $100,000, according to Secretary Dunlap.

The Legislature’s Transportation Committee should quickly decide which is the best remedy and then fund it.