Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Massachusetts House Passes Bill to Let Immigrants Get Driver’s Licenses
Feb 22 2022 // The Massachusetts House has approved a bill that would let immigrants in the country illegally obtain state driver’s licenses. If passed into law, Massachusetts would join 16 other states and the District of Columbia...
How Car, Home Inflation Is Driving Up Loss Costs for Insurers
Feb 21 2022 // The two possessions that most concern insurers — homes and motor vehicles — happen to be the largest contributors to the historic 7.5% inflation rate. Perhaps that should be no surprise. “It’s the...
Storms With Hurricane Gusts Set to Batter NW Europe, Driving Wind Power Generation
Feb 16 2022 // Storms across northwest Europe are set to drive electricity generation from wind farms to records this week in gusty conditions that threaten to disrupt transportation and down power lines. Weather forecasters in the UK,...
Trustees OK $9M Settlement in Nevada Bus Driver Sex Crimes Case
Feb 15 2022 // School trustees in Las Vegas have approved a $9 million settlement in a case involving a former school bus driver who was sent to prison in 2018 for sexually assaulting special education preschoolers. The Clark County...
How Car, Home Inflation Is Driving Up Loss Costs for Insurers
Feb 15 2022 // The two possessions that most concern insurers — homes and motor vehicles — happen to be the largest contributors to the historic 7.5% inflation rate announced last week. Perhaps that should be no...
Virginia City Deploys Flood Safety App to Help Drivers Navigate Increased Flooding
Feb 10 2022 // The sun was shining when Kim Williams hopped in her Honda Odyssey to visit a friend at a nursing home. But an unexpected downpour on the drive back left her trapped in a maze of flooded streets. Williams made turn after...
Judges Tosses Maryland Family’s Suit Blaming Uber for Driver’s Killing by Passenger
Feb 7 2022 // A federal judge in Baltimore on Thursday dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc. filed by the family of a rideshare driver who was killed by a passenger in 2019. U.S. District Judge Catherine...
Citations for Driving 100 Mph-Plus Climbing in Nevada
Feb 7 2022 // The number of drivers ticketed in Nevada for putting the pedal to the metal in violation of speed limits continues to climb. Nevada Office of Traffic Safety data indicates over 5,100 citations were issued in 2021 to...
Insurance Scion Who’s Out to Save Human Driving
Jan 31 2022 // McKeel Hagerty’s parents were into wooden boats and saw an unmet need to underwrite them. Hagerty, however, has been a car nut from day one. When the family’s marine insurance business finally began to offer...
Tesla’s Musk Sees Safe Self-Driving Vehicle This Year and Humanoid Robot Next Year
Jan 28 2022 // Tesla’s most important products this year and next will not be cars, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday, but software that drives them autonomously and a humanoid robot. The audacious promises by the...
Now Safe Drivers Can Get a Break on Life Insurance
Jan 25 2022 // Under a program being offered by Boston-based life insurer John Hancock, safe drivers can earn reward points towards discounts on wellness products and their life insurance premiums. John Hancock Vitality program members...
Consumer Reports, Insurance Safety Institute to Rate Vehicle Driver Automation Systems
Jan 21 2022 // Two nonprofit bodies, Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), said separately on Thursday they are reviewing safeguards put in place by automakers for vehicles with partial automation. The...
Transportation Safety Chief Objects to Use of Driver Error Statistic
Jan 20 2022 // With traffic fatalities spiking higher, the nation’s top safety investigator says a widely cited government statistic that 94% of serious crashes are solely due to driver error is misleading and that the...
Self-Driving Trucks: Looking at the Risks
Jan 14 2022 // I came across this article on Insurance Journal (of course!) today. Can a Self-Driving 40-Ton Truck Be Safe? Developers Say Yes But Others Are Skeptical. The optimist in me says that yes, self-driving trucks can be...
California DMV Reevaluating Approach to Regulating Tesla’s Public Self-Driving Test
Jan 13 2022 // California is reevaluating Tesla Inc’s Full Self-Driving test program, to determine if the electric-car maker’s software should fall under its motor vehicle department’s autonomous vehicle regulations,...
Rhode Island Fines Medical Transport Firm Over Fatal Crash by Unqualified Driver
Jan 11 2022 // The company contracted by the state to provide nonemergency medical transportation to Rhode Island residents was fined $600,000 Thursday in connection with a crash involving an unqualified driver that led to the death of a...
Can a Self-Driving 40-Ton Truck Be Safe? Developers Say Yes But Others Are Skeptical.
Jan 10 2022 // Shipping companies and software developers are experimenting with self-driving trucks as a way to solve a driver shortage worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, drawing fire from safety advocates who call the technology a risk...
Gig Driver in California Mauled by K-9 After Missing Rental Payments Suing
Jan 7 2022 // A gig driver badly mauled by a police dog is suing a San Francisco area suburb, alleging use of excessive force and violation of civil rights when police stopped him in December 2020 after he had missed car rental...
Officials Say Backhoe Driver Damaged New Jersey Homes, Vehicles, Was Shot
Dec 29 2021 // The state attorney general’s office is investigating the shooting death of a man authorities say was driving a backhoe when he damaged vehicles and homes at a mobile home park in New Jersey this month. Joshua...
Uber Driver Charged with Raping Passenger During Las Vegas Ride
Dec 28 2021 // An Uber driver is charged with raping a female passenger who police said fell asleep before waking up as she was attacked during a ride in metro Las Vegas. Dawed Oumer Mekonene, 30, was arrested last week and remained in...
