How has section 11580.1 of the Insurance Code been interpreted in the context of a motor vehicle accident?

We turn first to the pertinent parts of Insurance Code section 11580.1, as it read at the time of the May 27, 1973, accident. The statute, a part of this state's financial responsibility law, ⁴ is to be liberally construed to provide monetary protection for "that ever changing and tragically large group of persons who ... suffer grave injury" (Metz v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 10 Cal.3d 45, 51-53, 109 Cal.Rptr. 698, 513 P.2d 922; Interinsurance Exchange v. Ohio Cas. Ins. Co., 58 Cal.2d 142, 152-153, 23 Cal.Rptr. 592, 373 P.2d 640).