I was reading the Clark County Section of The Columbian newspaper on Friday, March 14, 2014 and noticed a very disturbing series of articles.

The lead article was about a woman that had been arrested for allegedly striking a 65 year old man in a crosswalk then driving away from the scene. A second article on the front page of this section dealt with a 28-year-old man that had been arrested after allegedly striking a 20 year old man and then also fleeing the scene. A third article on this same page explained about how two teens had allegedly left the scene after they had crashed their car. That was not the end of it. Inside the first page of the Clark County section was a FOURTH article about how police in Portland were seeking information about the driver of a minivan that had hit two pedestrians and also left the scene. WOW-4 articles about hit and run drivers in the paper on the same day. It appears to be an epidemic!

It occurred to me that many people don't know that they are covered by their uninsured motorist protection in their own automobile policy even when they are pedestrians, cyclists, or even passengers. Don't overlook this very valuable coverage when you are injured by a hit and run driver or when the other person's insurance is not enough to fully compensate you. And whatever you do-make sure that you have that coverage and that it is enough to take care of you or your family members if you are the victim of one of these terrible events.