Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Vermont Begins Restoration Program for Suspended Driving Licenses
Sep 1 2016 // Vermont is spreading statewide a program to make it easier for people to have their driving privileges restored after their licenses were suspended for nonpayment of fines. The three-month driver restoration program will...
Bus Driver in Fatal Louisiana Wreck Previously Cited for Lack of License
Aug 30 2016 // Louisiana State Police say a bus driver accused of killing two people in a five-vehicle wreck on Sunday had been ticketed Aug. 5 for driving without a license. Trooper Melissa Matey says 37-year-old Denis Yasmir Amaya...
Woman High on Drugs and Driving on Wheel Rim Sparked California Wildfires
Aug 30 2016 // Fire officials in southern California say a car driven by a woman high on drugs has sparked several wildfires that so far have burned 450 acres and prompted evacuations. Authorities say Renee Hogan was arrested Sunday. The...
NAIC San Diego: Self-Driving Cars and Regulatory Renewal
Aug 30 2016 // Insurance regulators are a diverse bunch. Some are elected, while others are appointed. Some are Republicans, while others are Democrats. At the triennial meeting of the National Association Insurance Commissioners in San...
North Carolina’s Fort Bragg Launches Program to Tackle Aggressive Driving
Aug 30 2016 // Officials at Fort Bragg in N.C., say they’re expanding a driver improvement program aimed at cutting down on aggressive and dangerous driving on post. The Fayetteville Observer reports that starting Sept. 1, service...
Illinois, Missouri Handle Problem of Uninsured Drivers Differently
Aug 26 2016 // Dan McMullen is an insurance agent in Ferguson, Mo. His Solo Insurance office is on West Florissant Avenue, the epicenter of the trouble two years ago. The building next to his office burned into ruins. There aren’t...
More Jobs in Economy Means More Bad Drivers on Roads
Aug 26 2016 // Who says recessions are all bad? About 5,000 fewer people die every year in auto accidents for each 1 percentage point increase in U.S. unemployment because downturns keep dangerous drivers off the road. “We have...
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Leads Motorists to Check Social Media While Driving
Aug 26 2016 // Social media and FOMO (fear of missing out) could be putting road-users at risk, as motorists admit to checking social networking sites and reading messages on their phones while driving, according to UK insurer Aviva. A...
Uber Opposes Employee Status But Offers Its Freelance Drivers Retirement App
Aug 25 2016 // They may not have a 401(k) plan, but drivers working through Uber Technologies Inc.’s platform will soon be able to open a retirement account right in the app. And in traditional Silicon Valley style, the...
Number of Iowa Drivers Penalized for Passing Stopped School Buses Declines
Aug 23 2016 // Fewer drivers are receiving the tough penalties Iowa lawmakers approved in 2012 for illegally passing school buses when they are stopped. The Des Moines Register reports that the number of people charged with violating the...
Judge Nixes $100M Driver Settlement But Uber May Win in End
Aug 19 2016 // Uber Technologies Inc. may come out ahead by failing to win court approval of a $100 million settlement with drivers. A San Francisco federal judge rejected the agreement on Thursday, a turn of events that would typically...
Uber Moves Into Self-Driving Truck Lane with Otto Acquisition
Aug 19 2016 // Ride service Uber Technologies Inc. said on Thursday it has acquired the self-driving trucks startup Otto, and it also announced that Volvo Car Group has agreed to a $300 million alliance to develop self-driving...
Maine Denies Progressive’s Appeal to Raise Premiums for Older Drivers
Aug 16 2016 // Maine Bureau of Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa has denied Progressive’s request to raise auto insurance rates for new customers above the age of 65. Cioppa stated in the August 10 ruling that the move would...
New Audi Cars to Tell Drivers in U.S. When Traffic Lights Will Change
Aug 15 2016 // German carmaker Audi is rolling out technology that will allow its vehicles in the United States to communicate with traffic signals, allowing for a more stress-free ride in what it says is the car industry’s first...
‘Self-Driving’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Hands-Free’ – Lessons of Tesla Autopilot Crash in China
Aug 15 2016 // Tesla said last week that one of its cars had crashed in Beijing while in ‘autopilot’ mode, with the driver contending sales staff sold the function as ‘self-driving’, overplaying its actual...
Suit against Seattle Law Enabling Uber Drivers to Unionize Tossed by Judge
Aug 11 2016 // A judge has dismissed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lawsuit against Seattle’s new ordinance that gives drivers for ridesharing companies the ability to unionize over pay and working conditions. The Seattle...
New York Warns Against Selfies While Driving
Aug 10 2016 // Authorities are warning N.Y. drivers against taking selfies, citing a national review suggesting they are among the most likely to do it. It’s generally illegal except in an emergency to use a handheld mobile device...
Urmson Leaves as Head of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project
Aug 9 2016 // Chris Urmson, chief technical officer of Google’s self-driving car efforts, said he’s leaving as the Internet company moves the project from research into the creation of products. “I am ready for a fresh...
Start-Up Otto in Fast Lane to Test Self-Driving Trucking by Year’s End
Aug 8 2016 // Self-driving trucking start-up Otto is poised to put its software in the hands of long-haul truckers by the end of this year for testing, its co-founders said on Thursday. Otto, co-founded by Google car and map project...
Alabama Driver Sentenced to 30 Years for Fatal High-Speed Crash
Aug 5 2016 // A man in Blount County, Alabama, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for going more than 100 miles per hour in a 2014 crash that killed one of his passengers. Al.com reports that 25-year-old Tyler L. Reynolds was...
