People who text and drive are jacking up your insurance premiums
Money Brad Tuttle 26 mins ago (Posted here 10:00 A.M., 21 March 2017)
Last fall, a 17-year-old driver in Maine caused a 10-vehicle accident when she drove through a red light. According to police, the teen driver never noticed the light was red because-you guessed it-she was looking at her cellphone.
Luckily no one died in that accident. But the incident is part of a larger epidemic that is most certainly killing people on America's roads. Even as cars themselves are becoming safer thanks to better technology and design, the rise of smartphones has been correlated to higher rates of road accidents and traffic fatalities, insurance experts say. Last year 40,200 people died in traffic accidents, an increase of 14% over 2014.
Now auto insurers are jacking up premiums on drivers in response to the increase in collisions.
More accidents equate to higher costs for insurance companies, and insurers pass along these costs to customers. The Boston Globe reports that insurers plan on increasing auto premiums 3% to 6% on Massachusetts drivers this year, on top of increases of 6% to 9% in 2016. Insurers in North Carolina, meanwhile, have requested auto premium hikes averaging 13.8%, according to the Charlotte Observer. Drivers in neighboring South Carolina saw their auto insurance rates increase an average of 8.9% last year.
The increase smartphone usage behind the wheel is a significant reason behind the rising rates. I would characterize distracted driving as a big factor, Massachusetts Division of Insurance spokesman Chris Goetcheus told the Globe. It's resulting in more accidents out on the road.
Distracted driving was always there, but it just intensified as more applications for the smartphones became available, said Bill Caldwell, executive vice president of property and casualty at Horace Mann Insurance, to the Wall Street Journal recently. The insurer plans on hiking auto insurance premiums an average of 8% this year on top of a 6.5% hike last year
Young people appear to be disproportionately responsible for fatal road crashes involving a distracted driver-i.e. someone who might have been texting, scrolling through Snapchat messages, or using a navigation system. Young drivers (age 16 to 24) have been observed manipulating electronic devices at higher rates than older drivers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports, noting that 10% of drivers ages 15 to 19 involved in fatal crashes were distracted behind the wheel.
To be sure, distracted driving isn't the only reason rates are rising. The combination of cheap gas and an improving economy has resulted in more cars on the road, and more congestion is directly correlated to more accidents. What's more, the aftermath of the average accident has grown increasingly more expensive as well. Modern cars are packed with more high-tech features than their predecessors, so it costs more to repair them. In the past, it was just fixing a bumper, Allstate spokesperson Adam Polack explained to the Charlotte Observer. Now it has a backup camera in it. So cars are more expensive to fix.
Traffic accidents tend to involve lawsuits and medical bills as well, and since legal fees and health care costs have been rising faster than inflation, they too are pushing auto insurance rates skyward.
But if people paid attention to the road rather than their phones while driving, there would be fewer crashes-and fewer costs that insurers must cover.
Now I realize, no good will come of this. But it would be in the interest of many, many people in Vienna Mr. Rapp, if the local Constabulary gave fewer verbal warnings and WROTE actual tickets. The bad part would be your "bubba's" would be a good many of those ticketed; OR, their progeny. It is my experience, it is more the older people that I see on the cell phones as they go down Grand Central or sneak around the back streets.
After the media coverage of the Council Meeting on the 16th, someone asked me what I thought of Mr. Conley's comments on the Budget for the next year? I asked what he meant? The response made me smile (snicker Mr. Bibbee?), and even chuckle a bit. He asked if Mr. Conley was running for Mayor already? I responded that it for sure sounded like his campaign was off and running? My question back to him was WHY? What does he know that the City as a whole do not? Time will as in most things out the Truth?
Am very saddened and surprised at the Passing of Mr. Merritt last Tuesday. I have noted that the Mr. Six issue cost him the votes in our household in the past Election. BUT, that did not and will not ever lessen my deep respect and liking for him as a person.
I make no apologies on my love for Veterans, no matter their War or what they did to serve at any time. He was also to me very easy to talk with on whatever he chose. At a Fire Board Fee (Tax) meeting some time back, he came to me and began talking. That is most unusual for the Appointed/ Elected among us unless one is perceived to have something that person wants? He asked nothing but talked on the Fee (Tax) that night. At a Veteran's Day gathering a few months later, I had a few moments of his time again where I went up to him. I was fully aware of his leg problems and did not feel I should in any way expect him to come to me.
So with the deepest and sincerest respect in my Heart and Soul, may I extend my condolences to his family at their loss. Mr. Merritt; Vaya Con Dios. 'nuff said'.