The Old Switcheroo

Declarations

“[W]ith Oklahoma City having a higher metropolitan population, I thought it would have been the other way around.”

– Officer Craig Murray of the Tulsa Police Department. A recent report showed Oklahoma City drivers are less likely than Tulsa drivers to be involved in traffic collisions. The study released by Allstate ranked Oklahoma City 54th in the list of the top 200 safest cities. Tulsa ranked 74th, the Associated Press reported. Lt. Roger Bratcher of the Okla-homa City Police Department’s Traffic Fatality Unit said he figured the two cities would be “pretty equal.” Tulsa has a higher seat-belt compliance rate than Oklahoma City, he said.

Wear a Life Jacket!

“Ninety percent of the fatality victims we recover are not wearing a life jacket’

– Maj. Alfonso Campos, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s chief of marine enforcement officer. Texas ranks first in the nation in boating fatalities, the AP reported. Nationwide, boating fatalities decreased last year everywhere but Texas, where 52 people died in boating accidents. So far this year there have been 23 boating fatalities in the state. Texas has about 4,900 square miles of inland water – more than any of the 48 continental states, followed by Minnesota, Florida and Louisiana.

Of Dust Devils and Water Spouts

“This model allows us to relate changes in storms’ intensity to environmental conditions. It shows us that climate change could lead to increases in how efficient convective vortices are and how much energy they transform into wind. Fueled by warmer and moister air, there will be stronger and deeper storms in the future that reach higher into the atmosphere.”

– University of Michigan atmospheric and planetary scientist Nilton Renno explains a new mathematical model that indicates dust devils, water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones are all born of the same mechanism and will intensify as climate change warms the Earth’s surface.

A ‘Level-Headed’ Outlook

“We believe most employers are maintaining a level-headed risk management outlook.”

– Wisconsin-based Wausau Insurance President and Chief Operating Officer Susan Doyle. A survey of financial executives found that only 23 percent of respondents said a recession would cause an increase in their workers’ compensation claims, compared to 62 percent who predicted there would be “no change,” 6 percent who said claims would decrease and 9 percent who said they “don’t know.” Respondents had a similar response when asked how a recession would impact their general liability insurance claims. The recession questions were part of an independent survey of 255 financial executives sponsored by Wausau and conducted by Guideline, a national research firm.

Topics Texas Oklahoma