Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Study: Pothole Damage Costs U.S. Drivers $3B a Year
Mar 21 2016 // A new study from the American Automobile Association (AAA) reveals that pothole damage has cost U.S. drivers $15 billion in vehicle repairs over the last five years, or about $3 billion annually. AAA is urging state and...
South Carolina ‘Driver Amnesty Week’ Offers Drivers Opportunity to Clear Violations
Mar 17 2016 // This week is driver amnesty week in South Carolina, a time when drivers with certain kinds of license suspensions may apply to have suspension time reduced or cleared. The Department of Motor Vehicles says the program...
Teamsters, Lyft Drivers Objecting to Class-Action Settlement
Mar 16 2016 // Five Lyft drivers and the Teamsters union will object to a proposed class action settlement, saying it would shortchange drivers by keeping them as independent contractors instead of employees, a union spokesman said on...
Distracted Driving Crashes Increase in Wisconsin
Mar 15 2016 // The number of traffic crashes associated with distracted driving is on the rise in Wisconsin, including the number of fatal accidents. More than 24,000 crashes involving a distracted driver occurred in 2015, compared with...
Federal Safety Agency Asking Google About Self-Driving Car Accident
Mar 11 2016 // The top U.S. auto safety regulator said Thursday the agency is seeking additional details of a recent crash of an Alphabet Inc. Google self-driving car in California. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief...
With Florida Ridesharing Reform Going Nowhere, Hillsborough Is Back to Ticketing Drivers
Mar 10 2016 // After a six-month reprieve, the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission – the agency that regulates taxicabs and limousines in Florida’s fourth-largest county, which includes the City of Tampa –...
Groups Push for Texting-While-Driving Ban in Missouri
Mar 9 2016 // Law enforcement, health care, insurance and transportation groups are urging Missouri lawmakers to ban texting while driving. A House panel heard testimony on three bills that would make it an infraction for a driver to...
RLI Launches High Performance Driver’s Education Event Insurance
Mar 8 2016 // RLI Insurance Co. has launched a new high performance driver’s education event insurance product, RLI Track Day. RLI Track Day provides personal vehicle insurance coverage to drivers who participate in on-track high...
Taxi Drivers Sue Jackson, Mississippi Over ‘Unfair’ Regulations
Mar 7 2016 // Two taxicab drivers are suing the city of Jackson, Mississippi, claiming the city has imposed restrictive regulations on the taxi industry. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy announced March 2 that taxicab drivers...
Mass. Bill Would Mandate Background Checks for Rideshare Drivers
Mar 7 2016 // Massachusetts state lawmakers unveiled a bill that would regulate ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft with a requirement that drivers undergo rigorous criminal background checks but not fingerprinting. The House...
Google Self-Driving Car Hits Bus in California Crash
Mar 7 2016 // Alphabet Inc.’s Google self-driving car struck a municipal bus in a minor crash, in what may be the first case of one of its autonomous cars hitting another vehicle. In a Feb. 23 report filed with California...
Auto Insurer 2015 Underwriting Performance Loses Traction
Mar 7 2016 // Private passenger automobile insurance remains one of the most competitive segments in the U.S. property/casualty industry, with a number of large, well capitalized organizations battling for market share and searching for...
Regulators Back Nebraska Driver Who Wouldn’t Drive Unsafe Truck
Mar 4 2016 // Federal regulators want to punish a southeast Nebraska company that the regulators say wrongfully fired a driver who refused to operate a truck that violated Iowa law. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational...
Cabbies in Louisiana Parish Sue UberX Drivers
Mar 2 2016 // Taxi drivers in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish have filed a lawsuit claiming UberX drivers are picking up fares illegally in the parish. It’s the latest in a series of legal challenges to Uber’s operations...
Self-Driving Car Developers Betting on Senior Citizen Market
Mar 2 2016 // Florence Swanson has lived through every American car from the Ford Model T to the Tesla Model S. Now, at 94, she has stepped into what Google hopes will be the automotive future: self-driving vehicles. After her painting...
Google Takes Partial Blame After Self-Driving Car Hit Bus
Mar 1 2016 // Alphabet Inc.’s Google said on Monday it bears “some responsibility” after one of its self-driving cars struck a municipal bus in a minor crash earlier this month. The crash may be the first case of one...
Studies Weigh How Human Behaviors Affect Self-Driving Cars
Mar 1 2016 // How much people trust technology and what type of driving alerts they respond to may have as much or more to do with the success of autonomous vehicles than technological, legal and security concerns, according to two new...
Few Rideshare Drivers Have Insurance, But Interest is Growing
Feb 29 2016 // A large portion of rideshare drivers do not have the required insurance – but more are buying it, or seem to be more interested in it. According to a recent survey by the Rideshare Guy, roughly one-in-five rideshare...
Google Self-Driving Car Hits Bus in California Crash
Feb 29 2016 // Alphabet Inc.’s Google self-driving car struck a municipal bus in a minor crash, in what may be the first case of one of its autonomous cars hitting another vehicle. In a Feb. 23 report filed with California...
Rhode Island Lawmakers Eye Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants
Feb 29 2016 // Lawmakers in Rhode Island are making another attempt to grant driving privileges to immigrants who are in the country illegally. Similar legislation stalled last year but state Sen. Frank Ciccone, a Providence Democrat,...