Allstate awards cities free gas for safe driving records

For the second straight year, an insurance study has found that Sioux Falls, S.D. has the safest drivers in the nation.

Researchers with Allstate Insurance Co. analyzed two years of internal crash data to calculate the chance that drivers in 200 of the nation's most populated cities would be involved in an accident.

Allstate, which claims a 12 percent market share of the nation's auto insurance policies, found that Sioux Falls motorists average an accident once every 13.7 years, 27 percent better than the national rate of one every 10 years.

The city's rate rose slightly from last year's average of once accident every 14.3 years. Officials in Sioux Falls attributed the ranking to strong traffic engineering and driver education programs.

Following Sioux Falls on the list were Fort Collins, Colo.; Flint, Mich.; Warren, Mich.; Huntsville, Ala.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Chatta-nooga, Tenn.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Des Moines, Iowa.

Allstate gave away free gas in Warren and Sioux Falls to reward residents for their rankings.

Allstate added a "most-improved" category for this year's study and cities in Michigan dominated the Top 5.

Drivers in Flint, Mich., added 3.6 years to their time between accidents, followed by Warren, 3.2; Grand Rapids, 2.8; Detroit, 2.7; and Sterling Heights, 2.3.

Warren Police Chief Jere Green said Michigan has made significant engineering improvements during the past five years such as green arrows for left turns and slowdown lanes for right turns. Cities also make use of turnarounds or "Michigan lefts," which, like the New Jersey jug handle, prevents drivers from turning left off a divided highway.

Warren has stepped up its enforcement with a dedicated traffic squad of eight motorcycle officers and four radar officers, Green said. "Enforcement equals compliance, and the result of that is fewer accidents when people comply with the speed limits and things of that nature," he said.

A graduated license system which forces drivers under 18 to spend their first six months behind the wheel with a parent or guardian in the car has also improved safety, Green added.

Motorists in Newark, N.J., were most at risk, according to the study, averaging an accident once every 5.2 years. Washington was second-to-last at 5.3 years.

Drivers in Milwaukee are likely to experience a crash once every 12.7 years, the best among cities with between 500,000 and 1 million people. Phoenix ranks the highest for safety among cities of more than 1 million with a collision likely once every 9.8 years.

Researchers studied about 2 million damage claims defined as any collision resulting in property damage filed between January 2004 and December 2005. That's a broad enough period to limit the influence of external factors such as weather and road construction, researchers said. A weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages.

The goal of the annual study is to jump-start a national discussion about the factors that contribute to safe driving.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ohio Gov. changes security procedure after workers' data stolen

A 22-year-old intern was given the responsibility of safeguarding the personal information of thousands of state employees in Ohio, a security procedure that ended up backfiring.

The names and Social Security numbers of all 64,000 Ohio state employees were stolen from a state agency intern who left a backup data storage device in his car, Gov. Ted Strickland said on June 15.

An additional review of data revealed that the storage device also may have held information about participants in the state's pharmacy benefits management program and the names and Social Security numbers of their dependents. Strickland has asked Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles to investigate.

What officials don't know is whether the thief is an unsuspecting common car burglar or a computer-literate opportunist with the capability of unlocking the code encrypting thousands of Social Security numbers.

Either way, Strickland said the security procedure failed, and he issued an executive order to change the practices for handling state data.

Officials were still determining whether the storage device contains any other personal information.

"I don't mean to alarm people unnecessarily," Strickland said. "There's no reason to believe a breach of information has occurred."

The governor said he was not allowed to specifically describe the computer device or other details surrounding the theft, under direction from law enforcement.

The device, listed in a police report as being worth $15, was reported stolen along with a $200 radar detector out of Jared Ilovar's car.

A message seeking comment was left for Ilovar, a college senior making $10.50 an hour as an intern with the Office of Management and Budget.

Under protocol in place since 2002, a first backup storage device is kept at a temporary work site for a state office along with the computer system that holds all the employee information, and a second backup device is given to employees on a rotating basis to take home for safekeeping, officials said.

Strickland said it was inappropriate for an intern to be designated that responsibility, and he ordered an end to the practice of employees taking the devices home. State Budget Director Pari Sabety said the device now would be stored in another location in a locked, fireproof box.

It was just the latest case of personal information on thousands of employees disappearing or being inappropriately accessed. Several universities, including Ohio State University and Ohio University, and even the Veterans Affairs Department have reported lost or stolen data.

Copyright 2007Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

House bill renews federal terrorism reinsurance for 10 years

Congress officially has a new bill to reauthorize the federal terrorism reinsurance program. Two Democrats from Massachusetts -- U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano and the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank -- have introduced HR 2761, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007 (TRIREA).

The bill extends the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) for 10 years and, its supporters contend, will spur the development of a private market for terrorism risk insurance.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007 (TRIREA) includes provisions to: Extend TRIA for 10 years with current co-payments and deductibles for conventional terrorism acts; Expand TRIA's "make available" requirement to include nuclear biological chemical and radiological (NBCR) coverage; Change TRIA's definition of terrorism to include acts of domestic terrorism; Set the program trigger at $50 million; Add group life insurance to the lines of insurance for which terrorism coverage must be made available; Decrease deductibles and triggers for areas previously impacted by a significant terrorist attack; and, Continue to require studies of the development of a private market for terrorism risk insurance.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many insurance companies excluded terrorism events from their insurance policies. As a result, Congress in 2002 passed TRIA, which created a federal backstop to protect against terrorism related losses. In 2005, the measure was extended for two years and currently is set to expire at the end of 2007.

"TRIA has helped make terrorism insurance available and affordable to businesses, particularly those in our major urban areas. Improving and extending the program will help stabilize the economy, as well as help protect American workers and our communities against possible terrorist attacks," stated Rep. Capuano.

"We need to keep in perspective that this bill is necessary for economic development and to protect property owners, building tenants, developers and people who work or live in high risk areas," Frank said.

While the TRIA program has been credited with keeping terrorism insurance affordable, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets last year concluded that a private market for terrorism insurance is not yet commercially viable, especially with regard to insurance against nuclear biological chemical and radiological (NBCR) acts of terrorism.

P/C insurers invest $320 billion in public projects

The insurance industry holds investments in municipal bonds worth more than $320 billion, investments that help fund construction of schools, roads, and hospitals, and support a variety of other public sector activities, according to a new industry study.

The report issued by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) found that nearly one-fourth of all of those investments by property/casualty insurers at the end of 2005 funded education-related activities and projects.

The report, "Municipal Bond Holdings of Property-Casualty Insurance Companies," analyzes the types of public projects funded through municipal bonds purchased by insurers.

The report reveals that municipal bonds for projects involving public utilities made up 15 percent of the total combined value of all municipal bonds held by P/C insurers. Transportation-related bonds accounted for 12 percent of insurers' municipal bond investments.

Insurance companies invest the premiums paid by policyholders to ensure that the money to pay claims is available when the need arises. Municipal bonds make up a large portion of the investment portfolios of many P/C insurers.

"Property/casualty insurers' impact on the economy goes beyond insurance," explained Elizabeth A. Sprinkel, senior vice president of the IRC. "Insurers also provide a major source of capital for the public sector."

The findings of the IRC report are based on data compiled by A.M. Best Co. IRC analyzed municipal bond data to determine the bonds' purpose and the state in which they were issued. Bonds held by insurers as of Dec. 31, 2005, were analyzed.

Supreme Court ruling limits investors' antitrust

Last month's U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that blocks investors from suing Wall Street investment banks under antitrust laws could save Wall Street firms a bundle by limiting investors to smaller recoveries.

In a case dating back to the dot-com bubble, the high court ruled Monday that antitrust suits would pose a "substantial risk" to the securities market. Damages in antitrust cases are tripled, in contrast to penalties under the securities laws.

The ruling struck down a lower court decision that would have allowed investors to go after Wall Street firms that they say engaged in anticompetitive practices by conspiring to drive up prices on about 900 newly issued stocks in the late 1990s.

Because the well-documented implosion of names like Enron Corp. swallowed any serious money that investors might hope to recover from that and other flame-outs, some investors have turned to the banks and other Wall Street regulars such as accounting firms that did work for such companies.

"The fact that these antitrust cases have been thrown out on these grounds I think will send a high profile message to would-be plaintiffs who were thinking of bringing antitrust claims in the securities context," said Wesley Powell, an antitrust lawyer with Hunton & Williams in New York.

Lawyers for investment banks say the difference between legal and illegal activity is a highly technical matter that must be left to highly trained securities regulators to decide, rather than to courtroom juries.

Powell noted that not only do those pressing claims under securities laws not have the triple damages awarded in antitrust cases, but such claims also have to meet a higher legal burden than claims made under antitrust laws.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. AP writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.