Word of caution to inattentive, reckless or just plain unlucky drivers visiting Arkansas City: Cause an accident and there’s a bill ? covering the cost of the police investigation of the wreck ? coming to a mailbox near you.
Ark City Chief Sean Wallace called the charge a Crash Investigation Recovery Fee and confirmed that some people have already been billed. The recently-introduced fee attempts to recover the cost of diagramming, photography and report preparation that is part of any automobile accident.
There’s about $3,500 in the recovery fee account thus far, Wallace said.
Here’s how it works: police arrive at the scene of a car accident, conduct their investigation and determine who as at fault. Once that is determined a bill for the investigation fee is sent to the driver’s insurance company.
Some insurance companies may refuse to pay and pass the charge onto the driver. NewsCow has received reports that bills in the range of $600 to $700 have been passed on to unsuspecting motorists. The fee only applies to out-of-town drivers because business owners and residents within the Ark City limits have presumably already paid taxes to fund such investigative services.
Wallace said the fee is way of recouping money spent on what he described as an investigation that mainly benefits insurance companies. In 2007, his department investigated 513 motor vehicle crashes.?
In over percent 50 percent of those crashes ? or 264 accidents – one or both drivers were out of town residents, he said. The city could choose to either bill those drivers or pass rising costs to taxpayers.
Sometimes referred to as a crash tax, the fees are becoming increasingly popular, according to various news and public information Web-sites. Many Florida cities have adopted similar fees.
Winfield’s interim Police Chief Brett Stone said his department had gotten a call about the fee from someone who mistakenly believed a bill for crash investigation was sent by Winfield police. The city has no such fee and has not considered adopting one, he said.
"Our plan is just to continue doing what we’re doing," he said. "And we’ll do it free of charge."
