Declarations

Please Call

“Those of you that don’t write in Massachusetts, please call us.”

—Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes, addressing a crowd of property casualty insurers at the Insurance Information Institute’s Joint Industry Forum in New York last month. The Bay State is set to deregulate its auto insurance market in April.

Mine Safety

“You go to a negotiation, you’ve got to be willing to give up things to get things.”

—George Ellis, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Association, commenting on a pending state law that would beef up oversight of the state’s more than 200 mines. The changes include the creation of a safety board and a new authority for inspectors to fine mine owners for safety violations. Ellis said his group’s mine owners, including Consol Energy and Foundation Coal, would agree to the changes, even though they did not get what they most wanted: for the bill to adopt most federal regulations. They did, however, win a seat on the to-be-formed oversight board.

Roundabout Emotion

“I’ve seen people who are pretty levelheaded get really emotional.”

—Doug Hecox, spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, commenting on the frequent public reaction to roundabouts — also known as rotaries — being installed on streets. About 150 to 250 roundabouts are built each year, but the departments would like to see that grow to 1,000. In New York, which started a roundabout-building program in the late 1990s, about 42 of the structures have been installed, often with stiff community resistance. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates about 1,000 have been built, and the pace is accelerating as 23 states from Alaska to Florida have started roundabout-construction programs.

Fire Lesson

“The fire’s impact was sobering, immediate, and far-reaching. Boyertown learned a tragic lesson. Philadelphia learned. The whole country learned.”

—Historian Mary Jane Lentz, speaking on the centennial of the Rhoads Opera House, a blaze that killed 170 people in Boyertown, Pa. and was one several hellish blazes of the early 20th century that helped spotlight the inadequacy of the nation’s fire safety laws. The fire began when a coal-oil lamp was knocked over, starting a small fire on stage that quickly spread to the kerosene tank that fueled the stage lights and creating an inferno.

On Track

“Though the news is good, even one collision between a vehicle and a train is too many.”

—Fred Hirsch, state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver, a Maine nonprofit that tracks collisions between cars and trains. The four collisions last year were the fewest the state has seen in 20 years, and come at a time when both the number of number of trains and vehicles traveling through Maine. There has been a similar decline in such crashes nationwide, which advocates attribute to better safety improvements such as crossing lights and gates.