BAILEY, Colo. -- You could be in serious trouble if you get into a car wreck in Colorado -- even if you have car insurance, or insurance to protect you if the other driver doesn't.

About one in every five drivers here has no car insurance, 7NEWS reported.

Bill Kerr has been driving a truck for nearly 40 years and has run a towing operation in Bailey for several years.

A call last October brought him to U.S. Highway 285 at the top of Crow Hill.

That's where the state patrol said the driver of a minivan ran a red light and ran into a sport utility vehicle. Airbags saved both drivers' lives, but the vehicles were total losses.

It was just the start of trouble for Luke Welchman.

"I've been to physical therapists. I've had doctors look at me. I've had an MRI, and I'm gearing up to see another physical therapist," said Welchman.

He can't work as a tile setter because of injuries suffered in the crash.

"I stay at my mother-in-law's sometimes, my mother's sometimes, and other times in my truck, depending on who has space for me and when," he said, explaining that he is homeless.

The minivan's driver pleaded guilty to driving with no insurance. It didn't surprise Kerr.

"The people coming here from out of town, they're the ones that don't have insurance," he said. "If you can't afford insurance, then you shouldn't be driving."

Insurance Commissioner Doug Dean said the state gets regular updates from the companies who insure Colorado motorists.

"We do have a database that tracks insurance information," said Dean.

But it takes 90 days -- three months -- before a licensed motorist with no insurance gets flagged and then they have 45 days after that to get insurance, according to Dean.

Kerr said the insurance system that Colorado has encourages fraud.

"A lot of people anymore, they'll go buy insurance for six months, pay the first 30 days and that's it. They never pay again," he said. "But they have that little card that says they have insurance."

In the days before the Legislature killed no-fault insurance, that wasn't so much of a problem because your insurance generally covered your costs.

Today, the only option for victims like Welchman is court, where even the act of getting justice can be much more expensive for motorists and taxpayers.

Critics said no fault insurance made trial lawyers rich. But in Welchman's case, taxpayers paid to get only partial restitution from the other driver.

And Welchman has to pay for his own therapy -- all of it -- before his insurance company will reimburse him. And Welchman can't work because of his back injuries.

Gov. Bill Owens said the long-term solution is to make it cheaper to get insurance than to get caught without it.

There are no plans to make it easier to identify uninsured drivers and yank their licenses before an accident, 7NEWS reported.