Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Virginia Schedules First ‘Distracted Driver Awareness Day’ for May 3
May 1 2006 // The Virginia Department of Transportation, Drive Smart Virginia and GEICO are partnering to take action to help “reduce the use” of cell phones and other driver distractions by creating the first annual...
Drivers with Suspended Licenses an ‘Epidemic,’ Claims N.H. Official
Apr 24 2006 // Drivers who lose their licenses aren’t letting that keep them off the roads. New Hampshire’s Assistant Safety Commissioner Earl Sweeney said the problem is at epidemic levels nationwide. “The problem for...
N.D. Blues President Fined for Drunken Driving
Apr 20 2006 // The president of North Dakota’s largest health insurance provider has been fined $500 after pleading guilty to drunken driving. Mike Unhjem, 52, of Fargo, pleaded guilty Tuesday. Judge Steven Cahill stayed a 90-day...
Pennsylvania Truckers Back Database of Drivers’ Drug Test Results
Apr 18 2006 // In search of a new tool to weed out problem truckers, a Pennsylvania trucking association is pushing for a statewide database that would compile employer records on drivers’ drug test results. Traffic violations and...
Poll Shows Drivers Don’t Save Money Immediately By Owning a Hybrid Vehicle
Apr 17 2006 // Most new-car buyers in Washington who are likely to buy a hybrid share a common misconception that owning a hybrid car will save them money through better mileage, according to PEMCO’s Northwest Insurance poll. The...
Pemco Poll Shows Drivers Don’t Save Money Immediately with Hybrid Vehicle
Apr 10 2006 // Most new-car buyers in Washington who are likely to buy a hybrid share a common misconception that owning a hybrid car will save them money through better mileage, according to PEMCO’s Northwest Insurance Poll. The...
Supreme Court Justices to Monitor Class Action Over Driver Privacy
Apr 3 2006 // Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito said last week they were concerned that an insurance company could be forced to pay billions of dollars for buying Florida residents’ vehicle records. Justices...
States addressing widening tragedy of teen driver deaths
Apr 3 2006 // A new report uncovers the wider tragedy of fatal car crashes involving teen drivers and is putting new impetus behind state efforts to limit passengers in teenagers’ cars. Over the past decade, nearly two out of...
Times Have Changed. Are you still driving this business?
Apr 3 2006 // Can independent agents compete in the nonstandard auto market? The big boys are better organized, financed and dominating the byways. They also are not creating a level playing field. More often than not, large insurers...
Institute’s Revamp of Crash Tests Puts Manufacturers in Driver’s Seat
Mar 30 2006 // The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that frontal offset crash tests it has conducted since 1995 have prompted huge improvements in how vehicles protect people in frontal crashes. Now that consumer information...
Sleep-Deprived Teens Drowsy at School, While Driving
Mar 28 2006 // America is raising a nation of sleep-deprived kids, with only 20 percent getting the recommended nine hours of shuteye on school nights and more than one in four reporting dozing off in class. Some 51 percent of adolescent...
Mass. May Toughen Teen Driving Laws, Raise Licensing Age
Mar 28 2006 // It’s considered by many teenagers a rite of passage to start driving when they turn 16. But some parents, police officers and lawmakers are beginning to question whether that’s too young to handle the...
Maine Panel Endorses Mandatory Sentences for Repeat Bad Drivers
Mar 16 2006 // A proposal to curb Maine’s worst drivers moved forward this week in the Maine Legislature as a committee gave its solid endorsement to “Tina’s Law,” which is named for a woman killed in an accident...
Calif. Truck Driver Pulled Over for Falsifying Insurance Claim
Mar 16 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi reported the arrest of Jesus Lerma, 51, from Riverside, after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) Fraud Division revealed that it was not him,...
Survey Explains Why Drivers Are Not Turned on By Using Signals
Mar 15 2006 // A new national survey reveals that 57 percent of American drivers admit they don’t use their turn signal when changing lanes, but what is most startling are the excuses drivers gave. According to Response Insurance,...
Measure to Encourage Safer Driving by Teens Clears Okla. Senate
Mar 13 2006 // Teenagers in Oklahoma with learner’s permits could soon face restrictions on cell phone use while driving. That’s the focus of legislation recently approved by the State Senate. Sen. Clark Jolley, who authored...
Texas Cities Ticketing Uninsured Drivers and Towing Vehicles
Mar 2 2006 // More than a dozen Texas cities have enacted ordinances allowing police officers to ticket uninsured motorists and tow their vehicles, the Insurance Council of Texas reported. The policy has begun to spread rapidly as city...
Proposed Car Insurance Rates Pit Urban vs. Rural Drivers
Feb 27 2006 // Urban and rural drivers in California faced off over a new way to calculate car insurance rates that would be based more on how people drive than where they park their cars. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi proposed...
N.C. Police Take Thousands of License Plates From Uninsured Drivers
Feb 21 2006 // At least 5,300 cars across North Carolina have had their tags taken away by police and deputies empowered by a new law to confiscate the plates of uninsured vehicles. The law that took effect Dec. 1 gave local law...
Survey Says Men and Women Differ on Bad Weather Driving Expertise
Feb 16 2006 // Men and women don’t see eye to eye when it comes to rating the driving skills of their significant others, according to a Chrysler Group “Bad Weather Driving” survey that polled more than 1,000 adults and...
