Missouri lawmakers are trying to protect people from uninsured drivers.  Critics say, however, that a bill under consideration goes too far.span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  They believe it would give uninsured drivers more rights than they deserve.

  More than two years after a KY3 News investigation found a major loophole in Missouri's uninsured drivers law, little has been done to close it.

  “We both had just about given up hope on finding anybody when our paths crossed,” said William Bradt, whose wife was killed by an uninsured driver.

  In just two years, Bradt met the love of his life -- and lost her.

  “We were just married 15 and half months -- it's not much time at all,” he said.

   In June 2006, Bradt's wife was hit and killed by a man trying to pass her on a two-lane road.

  “A car was coming from the other way, he pulled back inside and hit her in driver's side, flipped her over and killed her immediately,” said Bradt.

  The driver had no car insurance, which means he didn't have to pay a dime.

  “We do want to get laws in Missouri changed,” said Bradt.

  A bill sponsored by Rep. Brian Yates, R-Lee’s Summit, would increase the fines for driving without insurance from $20 to $100 for first-time offenders; the state would be able to impound the vehicles of second-time offenders.

  “This will hopefully send message to those who break the law that we're taking this seriously in the state capitol,” said Yates.

  But, Bradt says, the bill isn’t serious enough.  His biggest problem with the bill is a provision that would prevent uninsured drivers who are hit by complying policy holders from collecting damages for pain and suffering.  It would allow them, however, to recover 100 percent of any economic damages and 50 percent of non-economic damages.

  'If you're on the highway, you are breaking the law and you deserve no entitlement to be returned to you,” said Bradt.

  Bradt says legislators should be focusing on closing the loophole that allows uninsured drivers to get away with driving without liability insurance.

   The problem is you can get insurance in Missouri, get an insurance card, and then stop making payments.  Your insurance lapses but there's no way for a police officer to know your card is invalid.

  “Missouri has no database to collect information to see who has insurance and who doesn't,” said Bradt.

  Bradt wants Missouri to use the technology that 14 other states already use.  Insurance companies report new and cancelled policies to the state -- that information is then entered into a database. 

  It seems simple enough. After all, police already have access to driving histories, vehicle registrations and criminal records.  A database would allow them to also make sure a vehicle is insured. 

  Since Colorado put an insurance database in place in 1999, the state has seen the percent of uninsured drivers drop from 30 to less than 12.

  “That's the approach we need to look at,” said Yates.

   But, Yates says, lawmakers can't change everything at once, although he does promise to look into a database in the future.

  “This isn't a problem that's going away and every year we have to address the problem,” he said.

  Bradt just hopes he doesn't wait too long.  He says a database is the only thing that will protect other families from experiencing his grief.

  “She was just something special,” he said.

  Bradt says one way to pay for the database is to charge drivers for every day they don't have insurance.