There are about 800,000 registered drivers on the roads in Colorado without any insurance coverage. When one of those drivers is at fault for a crash, it can leave the victim to foot the bill for their own repairs or medical treatment.

A few months ago, while Robin Kearney was driving home from her granddaughter’s Halloween party, her car was rear-ended and totaled while she waited at a red light. She’s still recovering.

"I was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital,” she said.

The other driver was uninjured -- and uninsured.

“We really have no recourse,” Kearney said. “I know she got a ticket for failing to stop, but that’s it for her."

Kearney says that the other driver showed officers an insurance card at the scene of the accident, but they’d stopped paying the premium months before.

It’s the kind of deception that CSPD Sgt. Rob Kelley says is pulled every day.

“We don’t get notified that those are no longer in effect,” he said. “So as long as the date on the card was good -- if we stop them and see that -- we have no way of following up to see if their insurance is, in fact, valid."

According to Allstate Insurance, Colorado’s estimated 800,000 uninsured drivers is one of the highest rates in the nation. In Colorado Springs alone, police handed out more than 5,000 tickets to uninsured drivers during 2011.

A ticket for an uninsured driver carries a fine between $100 and $500. If the uninsured driver is found to be at fault, however, there is no recourse for getting them to pay the medical or repair bills that insurance would be required to cover.

"This law has to be revisited and there has to be stiffer penalties for people who are driving and cause accidents,” Kearney said.

But until lawmakers agree, individual drivers need to take steps to protect themselves.

"Make sure that you have the uninsured motorist clause with your insurance and make sure you have medical really there's nothing else to do,” Kearney said.

Allstate agent Brett Ludwig explains how it works.

"When we talk about a coverage for uninsured or under-insured drivers, what we're talking about is essentially having additionally liability coverage on you insurance policy that protects you and any passengers in your vehicle if you are hit by an uninsured or under-insured driver."

Kearney says she’ll likely never get any help from the driver who hit and injured her, but her insurance company is still trying. They’re pursuing the driver on the slim chance they can recoup some of the medical costs.