Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Nevada Board Bans Texting While Driving State Vehicles
Nov 11 2010 // The Nevada Board of Examiners has approved a policy banning employees from texting or using electronic devices while driving state vehicles. Gov. Jim Gibbons, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State...
Workers’ Compensation Fees Would Cost New York Drivers, Insurers Warn
Nov 10 2010 // Proposed 30 percent increases in what medical providers in New York are paid for treating workers’ compensation injuries could have unintended consequences for the state’s motorists, an industry group has...
Rates for High Risk Drivers in Texas Falling; Coverage Minimums to Rise
Nov 9 2010 // Insurance rates for high-risk drivers insured through the Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) will decrease overall by 7.6 percent from 2010 rates effective Jan. 1, 2011. According to TAIPA, Texas Insurance...
Virginia Firm Eyes High Tech Fix for Distracted Driving
Oct 28 2010 // Despite a public outcry over drivers who text, talk and e-mail that has prompted dozens of states to ban the practice, enforcing those laws is proving difficult. But Matthew Howard, co-founder and CEO of ZoomSafer, has...
New Jersey to Cite Drivers for Ice and Snow on Cars
Oct 25 2010 // New Jersey drivers are now required to remove ice and snow from their vehicles under a new law that has gone into effect. The law, passed last October, authorizes fines and citations for drivers who fail to clean off their...
Tennessean Cited for 17 Driving License Violations
Oct 20 2010 // A Nov. 17 hearing is set in Cookeville for a Tennessee man cited for driving on a suspended or revoked license 17 times. Forty-one-year-old Fred Burton Adams Jr. of Cookeville was arrested about two weeks ago, and after...
Maine Courts Fail to Notify Drivers of Suspensions
Oct 19 2010 // Court officials say nearly 300 people continue to drive on Maine roads with suspended licenses after failing to be notified their licenses were suspended. Court officials told the Morning Sentinel that the drivers in...
Enforcement Issues Complicate Mississippi’s Efforts on Texting Drivers
Oct 13 2010 // Undoubtedly bills will be filed to strengthen Mississippi’s texting-while-driving ban during the 2011 legislative session, and questions about enforcement are sure to be raised. A law enacted in 2009 banned beginning...
New Jersey Lawmakers Advance Bill Hiking Cell Phone Fines for Drivers
Oct 4 2010 // New Jersey lawmakers have advanced a bill that would impose heftier fines for talking or texting while driving. The bill approved last month by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee would double the fine for first...
Alabama Students Learn Driver Safety from Simulation Software
Oct 1 2010 // Heather Myers, 18, will tell you she has texted while driving, but she’s quick to point out it’s only in an emergency. “I’ve never texted when I’m on the highway, though,” said the...
San Diego, San Jose Lead in Number of Drunk Drivers
Sep 29 2010 // San Diego and San Jose lead the nation in the ranking of major metropolitan U.S. cities with the largest percentage of drivers with alcohol-related driving convictions. Data provided by Insurance.com indicates California...
Tennessee Ignition Cutoff Law Targets First Time Convicted Drunk Drivers
Sep 28 2010 // Tennessee, already considered tough on first-time DUI offenders, is about to get tougher. Lawmakers recently passed a bill that will require some drivers convicted of a first DUI to install alcohol-detecting ignition...
Traffic Cameras Make Washington Drivers More Cautious
Sep 24 2010 // Red-light cameras — recent additions at many Washington intersections — make drivers more cautious in pushing the limits of yellow lights, according to a recent poll. In a survey conducted by PEMCO Insurance,...
ISO Developing Data on Driver Behavior for Use by Insurers
Sep 23 2010 // ISO’s Applied Informatix unit is developing a data source for insurers that want to develop state-of-the-art underwriting and rating plans involving driving behavior or use analytics to differentiate their driving...
ISO Equips Own Fleet with Devices to Monitor Driving Behavior
Sep 21 2010 // ISO has announced that it will equip more than 600 ISO company vehicles with telematics devices to monitor and record data about driving behavior. Information will include Global Positioning System (GPS) and On-Board...
Michigan Considers Repeal of New Drivers’ Fees
Sep 17 2010 // The Michigan House this week took a step toward repealing parts of a law that imposes extra fees on drivers for certain traffic offenses. A four-bill package to partially repeal the state’s driver responsibility fee...
Virginia County Goes After Distracted Drivers Who Text
Sep 14 2010 // Yes, it’s illegal to text while driving in Virginia, just as it is in 29 other states. And yes, police see the same things on the roads that all motorists see: distracted drivers paying more attention to their cell...
Kentucky Simulator Program Aims to Improve Driver Safety
Sep 3 2010 // Baby, you can drive Larry Roberts’ car er, simulated driving machine. But first you have to get an official invitation from Roberts, who is the Fayette County attorney. And you have to be between 16 and...
Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries Costing $99 Billion a Year, or $500 per Driver
Aug 27 2010 // In a one-year period, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with injuries from motor vehicle crashes exceeded $99 billion – with the cost of direct medical care accounting for $17 billion. A new...
8% of Drivers Have Driven Drunk in Past Year
Aug 26 2010 // Eight percent of all drivers, as many as 17 million people, have driven drunk at least once during the past year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released that data as the U.S. Department of...
