It’s time to raise DC’s insurance minimums

In partnership with DC Families for Safe Streets

For nearly 40 years, D.C.’s minimum auto insurance requirements have remained unchanged, leaving many crash victims unable to cover the high cost of medical care and recovery. Updating these outdated minimums is a common-sense reform that will provide much-needed financial security for those affected by traffic crashes. Sign this petition to tell the DC Council you support this change.

Petition Text:

The Hon. Phil Mendelson, Chairman, Council of the District of Columbia

The Hon. Kenyan McDuffie, Chair, Committee on Business and Economic Development

Councilmembers Mendelson and McDuffie,

I wish to express my strong support for Bill 26-0057, the Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Act of 2025. This legislation is a critical step toward ensuring that D.C. residents receive the fair and adequate financial protection they deserve if they are the victim of a crash.

Councilmember McDuffie, I appreciate your leadership on this matter. I urge you to prioritize this bill for committee discussion and a committee vote. In committee, please consider amending the bill to raise the minimums above those of the current draft. The minimums in the current draft barely begin to cover the actual costs of medical care, as the draft acknowledges. The cost of medical care has risen faster than the CPI-U, and means that today’s equivalent to $25,000 is well over $100,000. I believe that the Council should adopt a more fair adjustment, $100,000/$300,000. In addition, please ensure that we aren’t doing this again in another 40 years: tie the insurance minimums to inflation so that they adjust automatically as needed.

Chairman Mendelson, thank you for introducing Bill 26-0057. Once it is voted out of committee, please bring it promptly to a full Council vote.

It is time to enact this sensible legislation in support of Washington, D.C. motor-vehicle crash victims.

Thank you for your consideration and your service.

More about DC Legislation

WABA's legislative work in the District of Columbia falls roughly into three categories:

Funding for (and a requirement to build) specific projects: this is how projects like the Florida Ave NE and 9th St NW protected bike lanes have become a reality. We push for this kind of legislative intervention when there's political pressure on the District Department of Transportation to delay a project, or propose a less safe alternative.

Systemic change to the decision-making process that make it easier to build safer streets (and harder to maintain the deadly status quo): The 2021 Vision Zero Omnibus bill included a number of these changes, including requirements that DDOT incorporate pedestrian and bike infrastructure on large projects.

Policy change that makes our streets safer: beyond changes to the built environment, we also push for policy improvements. Past successes include reforming Contributory Negligence so that insurance companies can't deny claims from people who've been hurt by drivers; incorporating bike and pedestrian safety into driver's tests at the DMV; and requiring construction companies to provide safe accommodations when they close bike lanes and sidewalks during construction. Current priorities include implementing automated enforcement ticket reciprocity with Maryland and Virginia so that suburban drivers can't drive dangerously without repercussions, and deprioritizing the Level of Service engineering standard.

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.