Well that’s the thing. It’s about ensuring that there’s a legally predefined amount of money available to pay for damages you cause while driving. It’s not going to be cheap. The dmv holding it as cash is merely the alternative to insurance pooling everyone together, charging them according to risk and the cost of doing business, then paying it out whenever necessary.

The only real alternative would be forcing you to actively maintain that amount in free credit, which would probably be difficult and have a fee associated with the risk of inability to pay, especially as you’re not guaranteed to survive a crash you’re at fault in.