Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hands-Free Law Urged for Massachusetts Drivers
Aug 21 2015 // Welcome to Massachusetts signs can mean more to drivers than just crossing a state line. For some, they also signal that it’s OK to pick up their cellphones, punch in a phone number and make a call. That’s...
Uber Headache if More Drivers Want Full-Time Status
Aug 19 2015 // Thousands of new full-time workers would spring into existence if Uber is forced to stop treating some of its drivers like contract workers, and the benefits that come with that employee status may entice part-time...
Maine Highlights New State Law to Protect Rideshare Drivers, Passengers
Aug 19 2015 // Maine Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa is highlighting a new Maine law, the Transportation Network Company Insurance Act, emphasizing that it will help to protect passengers, pedestrians and other motorists from losses...
Florida Man Gets 6 Years for Staging Car Crashes, Filing False Claims
Aug 19 2015 // A 50-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, man has been sentenced to six years in prison for staging car crashes. The Florida Attorney’s Office announced Monday that Guillermo de la Vega pleaded guilty earlier this month...
NYC Taxi Driver-Owners Form New Association to Take on Uber
Aug 14 2015 // Dozens of angry, independent taxi medallion owners in New York City have been making their opinions about Uber heard at City Hall. The newly formed Taxi Driver-Owner Association said Wednesday that the rapid growth of the...
New N.J. Law Emphasizes Traffic Safety to Young Drivers
Aug 12 2015 // Applicants for a New Jersey driver’s license must answer whether they’re aware of the dangers of failing to follow traffic laws under a law signed by New Jersey Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno. Guadagno signed the...
U.S. Safety Board Focuses on Driver Fatigue in Tracy Morgan Crash
Aug 11 2015 // A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. driver who struck a limo van carrying comic Tracy Morgan last year had been awake for 28 hours and worked almost 14 hours at the time of the accident, U.S. investigators found. The National...
New Jersey Drivers Still Frowning Over ‘No Smile’ Driver’s License Policy
Aug 10 2015 // Smile and the world smiles with you — unless you’re having your driver’s license renewed in New Jersey. It’s been three years since New Jersey instituted its “no smiling” policy for...
Uber Drivers Want to Streamline Suit in California over Employee Status
Aug 7 2015 // Drivers suing Uber Technologies Inc. for better pay and benefits are proposing to pursue their group lawsuit in phases focused first on whether they qualify as employees. If they win that round, then the two sides can...
Uber Driver Case Tests ‘Sharing Economy’ Business Model
Aug 4 2015 // The most serious challenge to Uber Technologies Inc.’s “Be your own Boss” business model might also present an early test to the wider sharing economy as well as undermine its own $50 billion...
Uber, Driver Attorneys Steering Toward Crucial California Hearing
Aug 3 2015 // Uber Technologies Inc. is jostling with drivers suing for reimbursement of their expenses in advance of an important hearing next week in the fight over whether drivers are independent contractors or employees entitled to...
U.S. Appeals Court Sides with Kansas Drivers in FedEx Employee Status Case
Aug 3 2015 // In early July, FedEx lost a round in employment practices litigation over whether or not its drivers are employees of the company under Kansas labor statutes. On July 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit agreed...
Insurers Unprepared for Self-Driving Car Disruption: KPMG
Aug 3 2015 // The majority of property/casualty insurers do not expect autonomous or self-driving vehicles to have a real impact on their auto insurance business for another decade and have not adjusted their business models to prepare...
Evolving Consumer Base Is Changing Personal Lines: Conning
Aug 3 2015 // There are “far-reaching implications” for personal lines insurers and the products and services they provide as the U.S. continues to undergo changes in its demographic structure, an industry report states. The...
Authorities: Thieves Targeting Personal Vehicles of Atlanta Firefighters
Jul 31 2015 // Atlanta firefighters have been warned to keep their vehicles free of valuables after authorities say thieves are targeting the vehicles while the firefighters are working. Multiple media outlets report that four pickup...
Driver in Deadly Indiana Bus Crash Had Suspended License: Police
Jul 30 2015 // A 6-year-old boy died and 11 others were hurt this week when their church bus overturned near Indianapolis in an accident that police said appeared to be the result of an error by a driver with a suspended license. The boy...
N.Y. Sen. Schumer Pushes for High-Tech Solution to Drunk Driving
Jul 29 2015 // U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the nation should increase funds for the development of high-tech sensors that can disable a car’s ignition if its driver is drunk. The New York Democrat said on July 26 that...
Oregon Cyclist Sues 2 Drivers in Injury Accident
Jul 27 2015 // A Portland, Ore. bicyclist is suing not only the pickup driver who hit her and shattered bones across her body, but also a second driver she says gave the truck the OK to turn. The Oregonian reported that Cynthia Lewellen...
Kansas Man Gets 1 Year in Jail for 17th Drunk Driving Conviction
Jul 24 2015 // A 59-year-old eastern Kansas man has been sentenced to one year in jail after pleading guilty in his 17th drunken driving case. The Kansas City Star reports Stephen Gast pleaded guilty after his June 10 arrest, when law...
Firms Interested in Driver Data Collected by Auto Insurers
Jul 24 2015 // The restaurants and doughnut shops that consumers pass on their commute would love to predict when they’ll be driving by. Their auto insurer may already know, and could be looking for a way to profit from that...
