Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mass. Officials: Drivers Can Opt Out of Current Auto Insurance Policies
Mar 11 2008 // Massachusetts car owners who want to see if they can get a better deal under the state’s new managed competition system may decide to opt out of their existing insurance plans early. State regulators say car owners...
Connecticut DMV Employee Says Agency Fails Driver-Training Standards
Mar 11 2008 // An agent for Connecticut’s Department of Motor Vehicles has accused the agency of failing to consistently enforce its own standards in driver training and retraining. Commissioner Robert M. Ward disputes the...
What Teens Think About Impaired Driving
Mar 10 2008 // The U.S. Department of Transportation held focus groups with teens on impaired driving. Its report, Teen Unsafe Driving Behaviors, Focus Group Final Report, was released in 2007 and included these observations from the...
Maryland Weighs Premium Installments for High Risk Drivers
Mar 10 2008 // Lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the insurer of last resort for many motorists, to accept installment payments like private companies. Advocates say the proposal...
Calif. Commissioner Poizner Abandons Uninsured Driver Initiative
Mar 10 2008 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has withdrawn support for a proposed ballot initiative that would have required state and local law enforcement officers to remove the license plates of, and eventually...
Connecticut Lawmakers Weigh Stricter Teen-Driving Laws
Mar 7 2008 // Connecticut lawmakers are hoping a bill aimed at tightening teen driving laws will clear its first legislative hurdle today. That’s when a vote in the Transportation Committee is scheduled. The bill – a...
S.C. Drivers Face Penalties for not Switching Lanes to Avoid Emergency
Mar 6 2008 // South Carolina Drivers who don’t slow down and switch lanes on a four-lane highway to avoid law enforcement or emergency workers on the roadside could get four points on their license under legislation approved...
Study: Traffic Crashes Cost American Drivers $1,051 per Person
Mar 6 2008 // Traffic crashes cost American motorists more than $160 billion a year while inflicting a staggering per-person toll on small cities such as Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla., according to a AAA...
S.C. House Toughens Drunk Driving Bill; Gov. Sanford Urges Senate Follow
Mar 5 2008 // The South Carolina Congress amended key penalties in a bill aimed at toughening the state’s drunk driving laws, which Gov. Mark Sanford called for in his state of the state address as part of his “First 30 Days...
Study: Car Crash Deaths Increase Starting at Age 12
Mar 4 2008 // Child passengers, ages 12 to 16, are more likely to die in a car crash than younger children, according to a study released today in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. This risk increases with each teenage...
N.J. Approves 2 Online Defensive Driving Courses
Mar 4 2008 // New Jerseyans may soon start taking their eyes off the road and focusing on their computers screens in a bid to lower their insurance rates. And no, it’s not because they’ll be looking for a new agent or...
Maryland May Relieve High Risk Drivers of Premium Financing Cost
Feb 28 2008 // State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the insurer of last resort for many motorists, to accept installment payments like private companies. Advocates say the...
Consumer Groups: Mass. Auto System Unfair to Many Good Drivers
Feb 28 2008 // The new managed competition auto insurance system being implemented in Massachusetts rewards many bad drivers and penalizes many good drivers based on certain supposedly-prohibited social factors, according to the latest...
Calif. Comm. Poizner Abandons Uninsured Driver Initiative
Feb 27 2008 // By Julie Lake California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has withdrawn support for a proposed ballot initiative that would have required state and local law enforcement officers to remove the license plates of, and...
Oklahoma Uninsured Driver Bill Moves Forward
Feb 24 2008 // A bill that would limit insurance awards for uninsured drivers involved in an accident has passed an Oklahoma House of Representatives subcommittee. House Bill 3380 by Muskogee Republican George Faught was approved by the...
Texas City to Impound Cars of Uninsured Drivers
Feb 24 2008 // The Corpus Christi (Texas) Police Department is going to start impounding the cars of uninsured drivers, officials said. About one in three Nueces County, Texas, drivers are uninsured, compared to about one in five...
Offer Pre-Packaged Personal Auto Insurance Choices
Feb 24 2008 // Like it or not, personal automobile insurance, along with personal computers, has evolved into a commodity product. According to Wikipedia, a commodity is defined as “a largely homogeneous product, traded solely on...
S.C. Senate Approves Tougher Penalties for Drunken Driving
Feb 22 2008 // The fines and prison time that repeat drunken drivers face would hinge on how much alcohol they have in their bodies under a measure that received key approval Wednesday in the South Carolina Senate. Senators also decided...
S.C. Gov. to State Senate: Stop Toying with Drunk Driving Law
Feb 15 2008 // In a written statement Tuesday, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford reacted to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s refusal to strip harmful amendments from the DUI bill: “We knew going in that some on this Senate...
Virginia Safety Crackdown Catches Fewest Bad Drivers in Years
Feb 14 2008 // Virginia State Police hope some new statistics mean drivers are being more cautious on highways statewide. Officials say the most recent highway safety crackdown produced the lowest numbers of traffic summonses and...
