Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Online Teen Driver Training
Jul 18 2011 // Florida teenagers once again will be allowed to take their learner’s permit tests online. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in January halted an online testing pilot program when they determined...
Kentucky Police Say Texting While Driving Law Tough to Enforce
Jul 7 2011 // Kentucky police agencies say the commonwealth’s texting-while-driving statute is well intended, but difficult to enforce. The law took effect a year ago, but officers issued only verbal warnings for the first six...
Florida Reinstates Online Driver Permit Tests for Teens
Jul 6 2011 // Florida teenagers once again will be allowed to take their learner’s permit tests online. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in January halted an online testing pilot program when they determined...
New Georgia Law Requires Drivers Yield Space to Bicyclists
Jul 5 2011 // Georgia cyclists are celebrating what they say is the biggest improvement to the state’s bike safety laws in decades. A new traffic law requires cars and trucks to keep at least 3 feet of distance from bicycles when...
Philly Boat Crash Intensifies Distracted Driving Debate
Jul 4 2011 // The nation risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving – talking, texting and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats and trains – as taboo as drunken driving, members of the...
Rhode Island Senate Passes Seat Belt, Cell Phone Driver Bills
Jun 27 2011 // The Rhode Island Senate has advanced two bills on driver safety, one boosting seat belt enforcement and another banning young drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel. The cell phone proposal would make it...
Can U.S. Make Phoning While Driving as Taboo as Drunk Driving?
Jun 24 2011 // The nation risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving — talking, texting and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats and trains — as taboo as drunken driving, members of the National...
Even Low Blood Alcohol Level ‘Buzz’ Unsafe for Driving: Study
Jun 21 2011 // In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A new study has found that...
Texas Governor Vetoes Texting While Driving Bill
Jun 20 2011 // Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed 23 bills on June 17, including legislation that would have outlawed sending or reading text messages while driving. Lawmakers approved the texting ban last month, but Perry called it an...
Employers Look the Other Way On Distracted Driving
Jun 20 2011 // A recent survey appears to confirm that there is growing concern among corporate managers about distracted driving risks and liability. Fifty percent of companies with more than 500 drivers said they have knowledge or...
New Jersey Court: Drunk Driver Can Sue Bar that Served Him
Jun 20 2011 // New Jersey’s Supreme Court has ruled that a convicted drunken driver has the right to sue the bar that served him. The court’s 5-2 ruling last month stems from a 2006 motorcycle crash in which Frederick Voss...
Fatal Virginia Bus Crash Shines Light on Driver Fatigue
Jun 14 2011 // Recent deadly crashes involving large interstate buses like the one involved in a fatal crash in Virginia two weeks ago have heightened concerns about driver fatigue. Four women were killed and dozens injured when...
Kentucky County Halts Program for Uninsured Drivers
Jun 14 2011 // Judges in Kentucky’s Jefferson County have stopped a program giving drivers without insurance a way to avoid a hefty fine because court officials say it nearly impossible to monitor the growing number of...
New York Governor Wants Tougher Penalty for Texting Drivers
Jun 13 2011 // Drivers who text behind the wheel in New York now run little risk of being pulled over by the police, but that would change under a proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor said Friday that he plans to introduce a bill...
Oklahoma Commissioner Questions Legality of Driving Record Fee
Jun 10 2011 // Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak has requested that the state’s attorney general determine whether a 2010 bill increasing the costs of driving records was properly enacted by the Legislature. The bill...
Oregon Man Can’t Ride Bike Because of Suspended Driver’s License
Jun 9 2011 // When Paul McClain had his driver’s license suspended for driving a car without insurance, the 41-year-old Springfield, Ore., resident started riding an electric bicycle instead. But authorities say he can’t do...
Oregon Senate Passes Car Sharing Bill
Jun 7 2011 // In a seeming effort to encourage green behavior, Oregon senators have approved a bill that would remove some of the barriers to developing community car sharing programs. House Bill 3149 establishes standards for personal...
Nevada OSHA Encourages Employers to Ban Texting While Driving
Jun 3 2011 // The Nevada Occupational Health & Safety Section (OSHA) of the Division of Industrial Relations is hoping to stop one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving. That’s why it is encouraging employers to...
New Jersey Court: Drunk Driver Can Sue Bar that Served Him
Jun 3 2011 // New Jersey’s Supreme Court has ruled a convicted drunken driver has the right to sue the bar that served him. Wednesday’s 5-2 ruling stems from a 2006 motorcycle crash in which Frederick Voss had a...
Driver of Car Hit by Train is Billed for Damage
Jun 2 2011 // Metro-North plans to bill a 40-year-old woman for the damage one of its trains suffered when it struck the woman’s car in Milford, Connecticut on Sunday. Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders says the commuter...
