Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Study: Texting while Driving More Dangerous than Previously Thought
Jul 29 2009 // Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones, a safety...
Report: Federal Safety Agency Withheld Data on Dangers of Distracted Driving
Jul 22 2009 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in 2003 in part out of...
Progressive Offers Behavior-Based Insurance Program to Texas Drivers
Jul 21 2009 // Progressive Insurance announced it is launching in Texas an optional car insurance program that offers lower rates on vehicles that are driven in less risky ways. The behavior-based insurance program, called MyRate, gives...
North Carolina Drunk Driver Reinstatement Bill Goes to Governor
Jul 17 2009 // The North Carolina Legislature has agreed that repeat drunken-drivers should get a chance one day to have their license restored. The House agreed 88-28 this week to create a procedure whereby someone convicted of habitual...
New York’s Dutchess County Bans Texting while Driving
Jul 14 2009 // New York’s Dutchess County is sending drivers a message: No more text messaging behind the wheel. County Executive William Steinhaus said Friday he wouldn’t veto a law against sending text messages while...
Fewer Drunk Drivers on U.S. Roads; Concern Rises Over Drugged Drivers
Jul 13 2009 // A new roadside survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirms a continuing decline in the percentage of legally intoxicated drivers. In 1973, 7.5 percent of drivers had a blood alcohol concentration...
New York Drivers Can Save on Insurance By Taking Online Courses
Jul 10 2009 // New Yorkers who want to take advantage of accident prevention courses to increase their chances of avoiding accidents while reducing the cost of their automobile or motorcycle insurance now can do so over the Internet. The...
North Carolina Bill Lets Repeat Drunk Drivers Get Back Licenses
Jul 10 2009 // Repeat drunken-drivers in North Carolina who get their license revoked could get their permit back after a clean criminal and traffic record for 10 years in legislation approved by the Senate. The measure approved this...
Beware of Symbol 7 Only Auto
Jul 6 2009 // Agents Need to Cover Their Exposures by Offering Hired Non-Owned Auto Coverage Risk managers, insurance agents and brokers have always known that a Symbol 7 on auto liability policies is not very desirable. This symbol...
AIG Finalizes Sale of U.S. Personal Auto Insurance Units to Farmers
Jul 1 2009 // American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has closed the sale of 21st Century Insurance Group, the wholly owned subsidiaries of AIG’s U.S. personal auto insurance business, to Farmers Group, Inc. (FGI), a subsidiary...
New Indiana Laws Include Teen Driver Cell Phone Ban
Jun 29 2009 // Indiana drivers under age 18 will soon be breaking the law if they use a cell phone while driving, as will school bus drivers who fail to make sure all students are off the bus at the end of their routes. The new laws,...
Car Insurance Mandate in Wisconsin Budget; No Driver’s Card for Illegals
Jun 29 2009 // Wisconsin drivers would have to buy liability insurance for their vehicles but illegal immigrants would not be issued special cards so they could drive legally on the state’s roads under the state budget poised to...
New West Virginia Laws to Restrict Teen Drivers
Jun 26 2009 // Beginning drivers in West Virginia will soon face new restrictions ranging from when they can be out to when they can be pulled over. Although the new rules won’t go into effect until July 10, Division of Motor...
Groups Lobby for Wisconsin Driver’s Card for Immigrants
Jun 24 2009 // Allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for special driver’s cards would make the roads safer, reduce insurance rates and generate much-needed revenue for state government, supporters of the proposal said. Supporters...
North Carolina Bans Texting While Driving
Jun 23 2009 // North Carolina has become the seventh state to pass a ban this year on texting while driving. So how did Gov. Beverly Perdue get the word out? She had an aide send a text message announcing the governor has signed the ban...
Delaware City Considering Phone Ban for Drivers
Jun 22 2009 // The Wilmington, Delaware City Council is considering a cell phone ban for drivers. The bill introduced Thursday would ban the use of hand-held phones while driving. Councilman Michael Brown believes the issue of safety...
Massachusetts Pike Drivers See Increase in Tickets
Jun 1 2009 // An anti-toll activist is criticizing a sharp increase in the number of speeding tickets being handed out by state troopers along the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that the number of speeding...
Wisconsin Proposal to Increase Driver Liability Coverage Still Being Evaluated
May 29 2009 // Wisconsin Republicans have failed in an attempt to remove a budget provision they say will cause car insurance rates to increase in the state. The proposal, submitted by Gov. Jim Doyle, proposes to increase the minimum...
Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Traffic Stop of Drunk Driver
May 28 2009 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court says police were within their rights to pull over a drunken driver whose vehicle briefly crossed the center line. The case involves Michael Popke, who was stopped in 2007 in New London after an...
Massachusetts Senate Budget Bans Texting while Driving
May 26 2009 // The Massachusetts Senate approved an amendment banning all Internet use while driving as part of its version of the state’s upcoming budget. Drivers would be banned from sending text messages, e-mailing or reading...
