Florida Car Insurance Requirements Changed January 1
January 1, 2008
Effective January 1, 2008, Florida’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law once again requires motorists to carry mandatory personal injury and property damage liability insurance. Under the law, every owner or registrant of a motor vehicle will be required to carry not only the Property Damage Liability insurance but also $10,000 insurance coverage for Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Therefore, as a consumer, the Department encourages you to be informed and make sure that you purchase the mandatory PIP, and make sure your insurance agent also adds the mandatory $10,000 in Property Damage Liability.
During the period October 1 through December 31, only the property damage liability insurance was required to be carried by motor vehicle owners and registrants but not PIP. Many insurance carriers offered their customers the option of cancelling PIP coverage during this time. If you are one of those who canceled PIP, you should have reinstated the required PIP effective by Tuesday. If you did not, the law requires that the insurance carrier cancel your policy and inform the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, who will then suspend your driver’s license and registration. To avoid expensive reinstatement fees for license suspensions and registration which could range from $150 up to $500.
Law enforcement, including the Florida Highway Patrol, will be checking proof of insurance roadside and could issue a citation for failing to carry the proper insurance. They are encouraging all motorists to make sure their vehicle is properly insured. If you have questions please contact your insurance carrier/agent to make sure you have the required Personal Injury Protection coverage.
In addition, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has a hot line number at 1-877-MyFLCFO where consumers can learn more regarding frequently asked questions. Drivers can also log onto the CFO’s website at http://myfloridacfo.com/NoFault/.
Blog: 2008 Predictions; 2007 Reflections
January 1, 2008
Out with the old; in with the new. Black eyed peas and football. Resolutions, weight loss plans and diets. Can’t figure out the date to write on checks. Must be the New Year.
We have worked a bit on a set of predictions for 2008. Those are a little later in this post. But first, we want to look back at our short time in 2007.
2007 was but a short year for us here at NorthEscambia.com, but what a year it was. After first going online in early November, we published nearly 200 stories and about 800 pictures from the North Escambia area. Over 530,ooo page views later, we are excited about your welcoming us into your homes and offices.
It makes us feel good to see all the visits from the local folks here in North Escambia. It’s great to see all the visits we get from the Escambia County Schools, Escambia County and various other state and local agencies. One of our primary goals in starting this site was to provide you, the residents of North Escambia County, a forum and a voice since we are often forgotten on the other end of our county.
We’ve noticed that most of the Mobile and Pensacola TV stations are visiting the site on a regular basis. It’s good to see that they are checking us out to make sure they have not missed something “big” that happened here in North Escambia. By the way, we sent press releases to all the newspapers, radio stations and television stations in the Mobile and Pensacola areas shortly after the site launched. While many had done stories in the past about new newspapers and web sites around the area, only one — The Atmore News — bothered to cover our opening at all. Wonder why? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but just wanted you to know.
Now, on to 2008 and our comments and predictions.
- We will hear way too much bickering about the county commission. An excellent editorial was in the Sunday, 12/30 Pensacola News Journal begging somebody to step up and lead. We agree. This county needs leadership. We also agree with Dr. Ted Traylor at Olive Baptist Church, which has about the largest congregation in the county. We need leaders that lead with a little touch of God, he told the church this past Sunday.
- The county commission just might notice that “north Escambia” extends beyond 10 mile road. Our district five commissioner, Kevin White, knows. But we are not so sure the other four have a clue.
- It will be a nasty election year overall. Both our school board member and county commissioner are up for election this year. Plus there’s a race for sheriff, and the whole presidential mess. We hope that our local District 5 school board and commission candidates with run with integrity and grace. Run on your merits, not the bad points of the other person. As a District 5 candidate, we expect to see you from Molino to Century to Walnut Hill to Enon to Bratt and Bogia. We need to see you in North Escambia, and we need to know where you stand on our issues. We are not Nine Mile road.
- Things will get hot concerning volunteer fire fighters in the county. There are those that are pushing for end of our volunteer departments. The McDavid, Century, Molino and Walnut Hill volunteer fire departments are a vital part of our communities. We, as the communities of North Escambia, will not stand by and let them be closed, or our volunteers replaced with a few paid firefighters.
- We’ll see an expansion of leisure services in North Escambia. Perhaps a new park will be announced, and the county will move forward on the conversion of the old Molino Park Elementary into a community center.
- The Escambia County School Board will feel the budget crunch. The district will consider closing at least one North Escambia School.
- Property taxes and homeowner insurance will continue to be a pain.
- There will be two named hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and they will both head toward Texas or Mexico. Well…everybody else offers predictions, so we thought we’d toss one in there too. We can guess as good as the next guy.
- NorthEscambia.com will continue to grow and serve you in 2008. We have several new features planned and a few fun things also.
- We’ll all learn a little more about our community by visiting here at NorthEscambia.com. There’s so much more here than the things we mentioned so far in these predictions. Predictions aside, we know that North Escambia will continue to be a great place to live and work. That’s why we call this area home. Thanks again for being part of the NorthEscambia.com family.
Holiday Closings And Trash Pickup Schedule
January 1, 2008
Allied Waste was scheduled pickup as usual on New Year’s Eve Monday, and Tuesday routes will be picked up on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday routes are scheduled to be picked up as normal.
The following will be closed Tuesday for the New Year’s holiday:
- All city, state, county and federal offices
- The U.S. Postal Service
- All libraries
- All county schools
- All area colleges
- ECAT service
North Escambia public schools will return on Monday, January 7.
NorthEscambia.com will be publishing only late breaking news on Tuesday as we are closed for the holiday.
Monday Was Last Day To Register To Vote For Prez
January 1, 2008
Monday, December 31 was the last day to register to vote in the Presidential Preference Primary to be held January 29, according to the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office.
There are multiple ways to register to vote in Escambia County. An online application can be filed (click here or pick up an application (click here for list of locations).
Locations with voter applications in North Escambia include the Century Branch Library at 7991 North Century Boulevard, the Tax Collectors office at 7500 North Century Boulevard, Century Bait Shop at 11 East Highway 4, Mitchells Grocery & Seafood at 8221 North Century Boulevard and Crossroads Service Center at 6470 North Highway 29 in Molino.
Locations in North Escambia with voter registration services include the Century Branch Library at 7991 North Century Boulevard, Florida Department of Motor Vehicles at 7500 North Century Boulevard (in the courthouse), Tax Collector’s Office at 470 South Highway 29 in Cantonment (old Winn Dixie shopping center), WIC Dept. of Children & Families, 3470 North Highway 29 in Molino (in the health department building).
For answers to common questions about how to vote, visit the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office by clicking here.
Wreath Campaign Ends With Two Residential Fires In North Escambia
January 1, 2008
Back on November 30, Escambia County kicked off the “Keep the Wreath Green” campaign, with five foot wreaths outside twelve county facilities. A red bulb replaced a green everytime a residential fire was reported. Eleven bulbs were replaced by red, with two of the bulbs representing fires in the North Escambia area. The wreath at the Century fire station is pictured. A wreath was also in place at the McDavid fire station.
On Wednesday, December 12 at 1:45 p.m. a fire was reported in the 5400 block of Still Road in Walnut Hill (pictured below left). Fire fighters from Walnut Hill, Century, McDavid, Molino and Atmore responded to the fire. Upon arrival they found a mobile home with a fire in the kitchen. There were two people in the trailer at the time of the fire, and they were able to escape without injury.
The fire caused major damages to the kitchen area and moderate smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the home. The cause of the fire was a pot left unattended on the stove. The American Red Cross was called to the scene to assist the family. This was the sixth red bulb in the county.
The ninth red bulb in the county appeared after a fire December 16, 2007 at 5:47 p.m. in the 800 block of
On December 19, an unoccupied dwelling in the 100 block of Highway 4 burned (pictured above). The house was fully involved when firefighters arrived on scene; it was a total loss. There were no injuries reported. Firefighters from McDavid, Century, Walnut Hill, and Molino responded to the fire about 12:10 in the afternoon. Since this was an unoccupied house, a red bulb was not lit in the county’s wreath campaign.
There were 16 red bulbs representing residential fires during the same period last year.
Escambia County has a smoke detector program in place. If you need assistance with smoke detectors for your home, call 595-HERO.