DALLAS —The City Council approved an ordinance Wednesday that will allow authorities to tow and impound the vehicles of uninsured motorists. A similar policy is already in place in several other Texas cities.

The council passed the ordinance 10-5. But it won’t go into effect until Jan. 1 since a statewide database of insured motorists probably won’t be in place until autumn, The Dallas Morning News reported in its online edition Wednesday.