California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner authorized regulations that allow insurance companies to use mileage verification for pay-as-you-drive policies. Studies have shown that per-mile pricing lures drivers to alter their habits, which then reduces air pollution, congestion and traffic accidents.
These plans can take several forms. In Texas, MileMeter offers six-month policies of 1,000-6,000 miles that drivers refill when their miles run out. The company wants to move into California where it believes motorists are paying too much for insurance.
Other plans being considered by State Farm, Allstate and Progressive might offer a yearlong policy based on a projected mileage. At the end of the year, the insurer would either refund or bill the driver based on how much he or she went over or under the estimate.
The key is verification. Privacy advocates don’t like the idea of installing electronic devices into vehicles to track miles driven, but there are other options. Odometer readings by agents, DMV records or states with smog-check stations could all provide the verification.
Could this lead to a push by insurers to access other information such as when your vehicle is driven or at what speed in order to inflate rates? That’s a less appealing proposition.
Then again, a study by the Brookings Institute confirmed the environmental and economic benefits of by-the-mile insurance pricing. If all of the country’s drivers adopted this type of policy, driving would drop 8% nationwide and oil consumption would fall by 4%. Two-thirds of U.S. households would save an average of $270 per car.
Source
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Daimler’s Car2go project launches in Texas
Austin, Texas – Daimler and the City of Austin, Texas have launched a pilot car-sharing project, Car2go, that will offer a fleet of Smart Fortwo models to members.
Austin has become the official headquarters of Car2go North America LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler.
The first pilot phase involves 200 Smart cars and a defined group of users. At some point in 2010, more cars will be added, and Car2go will be made available to all Austin residents and students.
After a one-time registration process, customers can use the service on the spot by accessing any available vehicle on the street, or by booking in advance through the online reservation process. A significant difference from traditional car-sharing programs is that Car2go offers cars on demand, and customers may use the vehicle for as long as they like, without committing to a specific return time. Users can make one-way trips, and charges are based on time, not distance, with rates starting by the minute. The use of the car includes all city-controlled parking fees, as Car2go is paying a usage fee to the City of Austin in the form of free driving minutes for employees driving on city business; fuel, maintenance, and insurance are also included. The service is currently limited to the greater downtown Austin area, where about 60,000 people work.
Car2go first appeared in October 2008, in the southern German city of Ulm. Austin is the first North American city involved; Daimler plans to eventually have an international rollout. In Ulm, the 200 Smarts in the first pilot are rented 500 to 1,000 times a day, and used by 15,000 customers, representing more than 15 per cent of all citizens in Ulm who possess a driver’s licence. Almost 90 per cent use the service spontaneously, without booking in advance, and for one-way trips.
Source
Austin has become the official headquarters of Car2go North America LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler.
The first pilot phase involves 200 Smart cars and a defined group of users. At some point in 2010, more cars will be added, and Car2go will be made available to all Austin residents and students.
After a one-time registration process, customers can use the service on the spot by accessing any available vehicle on the street, or by booking in advance through the online reservation process. A significant difference from traditional car-sharing programs is that Car2go offers cars on demand, and customers may use the vehicle for as long as they like, without committing to a specific return time. Users can make one-way trips, and charges are based on time, not distance, with rates starting by the minute. The use of the car includes all city-controlled parking fees, as Car2go is paying a usage fee to the City of Austin in the form of free driving minutes for employees driving on city business; fuel, maintenance, and insurance are also included. The service is currently limited to the greater downtown Austin area, where about 60,000 people work.
Car2go first appeared in October 2008, in the southern German city of Ulm. Austin is the first North American city involved; Daimler plans to eventually have an international rollout. In Ulm, the 200 Smarts in the first pilot are rented 500 to 1,000 times a day, and used by 15,000 customers, representing more than 15 per cent of all citizens in Ulm who possess a driver’s licence. Almost 90 per cent use the service spontaneously, without booking in advance, and for one-way trips.
Source
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Safe Driving Controls the Cost of Texas Auto Insurance
DALLAS, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- There are many factors affecting auto insurance rates which Texans cannot control, including age and driving experience; however, one of the most important rating factors does happen to be controllable, and that is a driver's driving record. It is a well known fact that motorists who practice safe driving will not only increase driver and passenger safety, but also will save money in the insuring process from discounts and rewards offered by insurers.
When applying for Texas car insurance, the number of tickets and accidents that an individual accumulates on their driving record can directly affect policy premiums because it may indicate a higher risk of loss; therefore, practicing responsible, safe driving and obeying traffic laws has proved to be an effective way of keeping blemishes off of a driver's record and keeping rates as low as possible.
The majority of traffic accidents are a result of human judgment and many can be avoided by following the rules of the road. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, "Most crashes in Texas result from speeding, failure to yield, driving under the influence of alcohol, following too closely and running red lights and stop signs."
Source
When applying for Texas car insurance, the number of tickets and accidents that an individual accumulates on their driving record can directly affect policy premiums because it may indicate a higher risk of loss; therefore, practicing responsible, safe driving and obeying traffic laws has proved to be an effective way of keeping blemishes off of a driver's record and keeping rates as low as possible.
The majority of traffic accidents are a result of human judgment and many can be avoided by following the rules of the road. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, "Most crashes in Texas result from speeding, failure to yield, driving under the influence of alcohol, following too closely and running red lights and stop signs."
Source
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Texas tightens teen driving laws
The laws for teenage drivers are getting tougher.
Drivers younger than 18 are banned from using cell phones while driving and must spend twice as long practicing driving before getting a license, according to a new law that goes into effect Sept. 1. The law applies to teens getting a license on or after that date.
"A 16-year-old on a cell phone's reaction time is that of a 70-year-old," said Brett Arterburn, chief of police in Pottsboro, north of Dallas.
Arterburn worked with a Pottsboro community group, Less Tears … More Years, to get the teen driving law revised after two teens in his community died in traffic accidents. Arterburn said he was disturbed when he found that high school football players practice more before a game than teens practice driving before they can earn a license.
It is vital that new drivers minimize distractions as they are gaining experience on the road, said Becky Rendon, director of health services for the North East Independent School District. Rendon, whose 16-year-old daughter recently got her license, said she considers cell phone use while driving a major public health problem for all drivers.
"You have to have your eyes on the road at all times," Rendon said.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A survey by Allstate Insurance Company showed 88 percent of teens talk or text on their phone while driving and 33 percent have gotten in a car accident during the first year they have their license. The survey also said that summer is the deadliest time of the year for teens when an average of about 15 teens die per day.
Eighteen-year-old Celina Quilantan, who recently graduated from Warren High School, nearly ended up as another statistic last year.
"I had my first car accident when I was 17 because a man was on his cell phone and wasn't paying attention," Quilantan said. She was driving on the highway when a middle-aged man talking on a phone hit her car. She spun across the highway into the shoulder of the other lane into oncoming traffic.
Source
Drivers younger than 18 are banned from using cell phones while driving and must spend twice as long practicing driving before getting a license, according to a new law that goes into effect Sept. 1. The law applies to teens getting a license on or after that date.
"A 16-year-old on a cell phone's reaction time is that of a 70-year-old," said Brett Arterburn, chief of police in Pottsboro, north of Dallas.
Arterburn worked with a Pottsboro community group, Less Tears … More Years, to get the teen driving law revised after two teens in his community died in traffic accidents. Arterburn said he was disturbed when he found that high school football players practice more before a game than teens practice driving before they can earn a license.
It is vital that new drivers minimize distractions as they are gaining experience on the road, said Becky Rendon, director of health services for the North East Independent School District. Rendon, whose 16-year-old daughter recently got her license, said she considers cell phone use while driving a major public health problem for all drivers.
"You have to have your eyes on the road at all times," Rendon said.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A survey by Allstate Insurance Company showed 88 percent of teens talk or text on their phone while driving and 33 percent have gotten in a car accident during the first year they have their license. The survey also said that summer is the deadliest time of the year for teens when an average of about 15 teens die per day.
Eighteen-year-old Celina Quilantan, who recently graduated from Warren High School, nearly ended up as another statistic last year.
"I had my first car accident when I was 17 because a man was on his cell phone and wasn't paying attention," Quilantan said. She was driving on the highway when a middle-aged man talking on a phone hit her car. She spun across the highway into the shoulder of the other lane into oncoming traffic.
Source
Monday, September 28, 2009
Lawyer: Texas' Kindle left crash scene
Texas Longhorns linebacker Sergio Kindle ran his car into an Austin, Texas, apartment and left the scene of the accident last week, according to his attorney.
Kindle, a senior who was a first-team All-Big 12 pick last season, hit his head during the wreck and suffered a concussion when he drove off the street and into a West Campus residence early Wednesday morning.
[+] EnlargeSergio Kindle
WD/Icon SMITexas linebacker Sergio Kindle suffered a concussion in a wreck last week and left the scene because he "needed to go home and go to bed," his lawyer said.
"He knew he was hurt at the time and that he needed to go home and go to bed," Brian Roark, Kindle's lawyer, told the Austin American-Statesman.
Roark said the incident occurred at 2:50 a.m. ET on Wednesday and that Kindle was probably text messaging before the accident, the American-Statesman reported.
According to witnesses, Kindle and several passengers got out of the car and pushed it out of the residence and down the road before abandoning it, police said.
Roark said Kindle contacted the apartment's management Thursday when he woke up, according to the report. Police said the accident was under investigation and no charges had been filed.
Austin Police Cpl. Scott Perry said police have not talked to Kindle or Roark, The Associated Press reported.
Texas law doesn't appear to cover leaving the scene of accidents resulting in damage to buildings.
According to the state's transportation code, a driver who fails to leave a note at the scene providing the name of the operator, owner of the car and circumstances of a collision with an unattended vehicle faces a Class C misdemeanor if the damage is less than $200, a Class B misdemeanor if it is more.
Roark said because Kindle hit a stationary object and did not injure anyone else, he is only required to file a report with the Texas Department of Transportation, adding he planned to file it as early as Monday.
Kindle was suspended for the first three games of the 2007 season after a driving-while-intoxicated arrest. He recorded 10 sacks in 2008.
"Kindle made the football staff aware of what happened, and we're happy he's OK," said John Bianco, a UT football spokesman, according to the American-Statesman.
Roark said Kindle would pay for the damages himself or through insurance if it is covered.
An estimate from the apartment's management company put the cost of fixing the exterior wall of the building at $8,700.
The wreck also destroyed furniture, a computer, a desk and a cell phone in the apartment's bedroom, one of its residents said.
Ashley Zapata, 21, said she wasn't home at the time of the crash. According to a statement from the management company, Zapata and a roommate had been given new apartments.
Emily Dole, Zapata's roommate, told the Austin newspaper she returned home from work to find everything "in pieces" in Zapata's bedroom.
"She would have been dead if she had been sitting at her desk," Dole said.
Source
Kindle, a senior who was a first-team All-Big 12 pick last season, hit his head during the wreck and suffered a concussion when he drove off the street and into a West Campus residence early Wednesday morning.
[+] EnlargeSergio Kindle
WD/Icon SMITexas linebacker Sergio Kindle suffered a concussion in a wreck last week and left the scene because he "needed to go home and go to bed," his lawyer said.
"He knew he was hurt at the time and that he needed to go home and go to bed," Brian Roark, Kindle's lawyer, told the Austin American-Statesman.
Roark said the incident occurred at 2:50 a.m. ET on Wednesday and that Kindle was probably text messaging before the accident, the American-Statesman reported.
According to witnesses, Kindle and several passengers got out of the car and pushed it out of the residence and down the road before abandoning it, police said.
Roark said Kindle contacted the apartment's management Thursday when he woke up, according to the report. Police said the accident was under investigation and no charges had been filed.
Austin Police Cpl. Scott Perry said police have not talked to Kindle or Roark, The Associated Press reported.
Texas law doesn't appear to cover leaving the scene of accidents resulting in damage to buildings.
According to the state's transportation code, a driver who fails to leave a note at the scene providing the name of the operator, owner of the car and circumstances of a collision with an unattended vehicle faces a Class C misdemeanor if the damage is less than $200, a Class B misdemeanor if it is more.
Roark said because Kindle hit a stationary object and did not injure anyone else, he is only required to file a report with the Texas Department of Transportation, adding he planned to file it as early as Monday.
Kindle was suspended for the first three games of the 2007 season after a driving-while-intoxicated arrest. He recorded 10 sacks in 2008.
"Kindle made the football staff aware of what happened, and we're happy he's OK," said John Bianco, a UT football spokesman, according to the American-Statesman.
Roark said Kindle would pay for the damages himself or through insurance if it is covered.
An estimate from the apartment's management company put the cost of fixing the exterior wall of the building at $8,700.
The wreck also destroyed furniture, a computer, a desk and a cell phone in the apartment's bedroom, one of its residents said.
Ashley Zapata, 21, said she wasn't home at the time of the crash. According to a statement from the management company, Zapata and a roommate had been given new apartments.
Emily Dole, Zapata's roommate, told the Austin newspaper she returned home from work to find everything "in pieces" in Zapata's bedroom.
"She would have been dead if she had been sitting at her desk," Dole said.
Source
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
North Texas cities grapple with day labor
Huffines Plaza in Lewisville has seen better days. Let's hope so, at least.
Hard against Interstate 35E whizzing past, it bears all the markings of a tired strip shopping center, right down to the beaten, potholed asphalt parking lot. A Dollar General competes with a 99-cent store. The restaurant is Mariscos Y Taqueria. The sports bar is El Pollo Alegre. Down the way are a lavanderia, a meat market and a "mini-bazaar" for all your money-transfer needs. A tattoo parlor shares space with an insurance agency, just past the Buy Low Beer & Wine.
Until recently, it also was the place where contractors knew they could find guys looking for a day's work and a day's pay – dry-walling, swinging a hammer, landscaping, restaurant work – whatever you need, they can do.
When the center owner decided all the day laborers were scaring off paying customers, he asked the city for help. In Lewisville, the only remedy is to have police enforce trespassing laws, which they can do only on private property and only at the owner's behest.
Huffines Plaza today is relatively laborer-free, but the business didn't disappear. It just moved down the block and across Mill Street to a 7-Eleven, where at mid-morning yesterday about three dozen Hispanic men in denim and work boots crowded around two picnic tables and spilled into the used-car lot next door.
Assistant Police Chief Jerry Galler says Lewisville has been dealing with day-labor solicitation this way for about two decades. If the workers stay out of street, police act only if property owners ask for help. If not, the underground industry goes on. The goal at Huffines Plaza, he says, is education, not hauling people to jail, especially when criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor.
That's the Lewisville method. Another way is how Plano, Garland, Denton, Fort Worth and McKinney handle it. They regulate it, with city-run day-labor centers.
Plano was among the first in North Texas to try this, opening its center in the mid-1990s on DART-owned land near North Central Expressway. The city has paid for all improvements to the property, and Neighborhood Services Manager Christina Day says Plano spends about $200,000 a year to operate it. Over the years, this has paid for driveway improvements, a small building, restrooms and a system that requires day laborers to register and check in with barcoded photo IDs.
"There's no perfect solution," she says, "but we see this as a more cost-effective way of managing the situation. We've had many fewer complaints from businesses and residents this way."
The Lewisville way moves the disorder to another parking lot. The more orderly Plano way has an upfront and ongoing cost to city taxpayers but eases the law enforcement burden. Lewisville has considered a city-run facility, but objections from taxpayers to spending on "an illegal activity" stifled that notion.
As a rule, we lean toward local control. What works for Plano might not work for Lewisville. Dallas' solution might not be Irving's. Frisco isn't Coppell. That's why each has a city council and city staff to manage its affairs in the way they see fit (and voters demand).
It's almost certain that some of those day laborers outside the Lewisville 7-Eleven are here illegally. It's more certain that they are just trying to feed themselves and their families.
And it's absolutely clear that while local control is our preference, it's unfortunate that federal inaction – like the inability to pass sane and effective immigration reform – puts localities like Lewisville and Plano in the difficult position of having to fend for themselves as best they can.
Source
Hard against Interstate 35E whizzing past, it bears all the markings of a tired strip shopping center, right down to the beaten, potholed asphalt parking lot. A Dollar General competes with a 99-cent store. The restaurant is Mariscos Y Taqueria. The sports bar is El Pollo Alegre. Down the way are a lavanderia, a meat market and a "mini-bazaar" for all your money-transfer needs. A tattoo parlor shares space with an insurance agency, just past the Buy Low Beer & Wine.
Until recently, it also was the place where contractors knew they could find guys looking for a day's work and a day's pay – dry-walling, swinging a hammer, landscaping, restaurant work – whatever you need, they can do.
When the center owner decided all the day laborers were scaring off paying customers, he asked the city for help. In Lewisville, the only remedy is to have police enforce trespassing laws, which they can do only on private property and only at the owner's behest.
Huffines Plaza today is relatively laborer-free, but the business didn't disappear. It just moved down the block and across Mill Street to a 7-Eleven, where at mid-morning yesterday about three dozen Hispanic men in denim and work boots crowded around two picnic tables and spilled into the used-car lot next door.
Assistant Police Chief Jerry Galler says Lewisville has been dealing with day-labor solicitation this way for about two decades. If the workers stay out of street, police act only if property owners ask for help. If not, the underground industry goes on. The goal at Huffines Plaza, he says, is education, not hauling people to jail, especially when criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor.
That's the Lewisville method. Another way is how Plano, Garland, Denton, Fort Worth and McKinney handle it. They regulate it, with city-run day-labor centers.
Plano was among the first in North Texas to try this, opening its center in the mid-1990s on DART-owned land near North Central Expressway. The city has paid for all improvements to the property, and Neighborhood Services Manager Christina Day says Plano spends about $200,000 a year to operate it. Over the years, this has paid for driveway improvements, a small building, restrooms and a system that requires day laborers to register and check in with barcoded photo IDs.
"There's no perfect solution," she says, "but we see this as a more cost-effective way of managing the situation. We've had many fewer complaints from businesses and residents this way."
The Lewisville way moves the disorder to another parking lot. The more orderly Plano way has an upfront and ongoing cost to city taxpayers but eases the law enforcement burden. Lewisville has considered a city-run facility, but objections from taxpayers to spending on "an illegal activity" stifled that notion.
As a rule, we lean toward local control. What works for Plano might not work for Lewisville. Dallas' solution might not be Irving's. Frisco isn't Coppell. That's why each has a city council and city staff to manage its affairs in the way they see fit (and voters demand).
It's almost certain that some of those day laborers outside the Lewisville 7-Eleven are here illegally. It's more certain that they are just trying to feed themselves and their families.
And it's absolutely clear that while local control is our preference, it's unfortunate that federal inaction – like the inability to pass sane and effective immigration reform – puts localities like Lewisville and Plano in the difficult position of having to fend for themselves as best they can.
Source
Friday, August 28, 2009
Texas teens are getting better behind the wheel, report finds
Texas teenagers are getting a bit better at the most dangerous thing they do: driving.
[Click image for a larger version] Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN
Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN
Ivie Oghakpor, 15, of Sachse practiced driving with an instructor in Garland on Monday. A Texas Transportation Institute study shows that the number of Texas teen drivers involved in fatal crashes dropped for five years in a row.
A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute found that the state's rate of fatal teen crashes is dropping faster here than anywhere. Researchers looked at 37 states that put restrictions on teen drivers' licenses and found Texas is alone in seeing the number of teen drivers involved in fatal crashes drop for five consecutive years.
"Texas is doing a better job than any of the other states," said Texas Transportation Institute researcher Bernie Fette, co-author of the 46-page report released Monday. Fette credited not just the license restrictions but also programs in high schools to get kids focused on safe road behavior.
Since 2002, when 625 teen drivers were involved in fatal crashes, Texas' numbers have come down each year. In 2007, 419 fatal crashes involved teen drivers.
That's still a lot of lost lives, and it's still keeping some parents on edge over the prospect of turning over the keys. Just ask Gracie Mendez, who turns 16 in two months, but won't be doing any driving soon.
In March, Gracie's friend Miriam Ramirez, 16, left school with two friends and died a few minutes later, when she lost control of her Taurus and smashed into a sport utility vehicle.
"That's the reason my mom is not going to let me drive till maybe I am 18," said Mendez, who will be a sophomore at Adamson High School in Oak Cliff. "That's the conversation we are having. I am hoping to change her mind, but she says even if I am being safe, it's the people around me she is worried about. Somebody next to me might be driving drunk or something."
Her mother, Maria Guerrero, said it's about more than just the risk of other drivers. A license requires responsibility – and she's not sure her daughter has it yet.
"If she gets her license now, and then gets some tickets, well, when she is 18 she is going to have to pay for herself," Guerrero said. "And I don't want her insurance to be sky high by then."
Source
[Click image for a larger version] Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN
Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN
Ivie Oghakpor, 15, of Sachse practiced driving with an instructor in Garland on Monday. A Texas Transportation Institute study shows that the number of Texas teen drivers involved in fatal crashes dropped for five years in a row.
A new report by the Texas Transportation Institute found that the state's rate of fatal teen crashes is dropping faster here than anywhere. Researchers looked at 37 states that put restrictions on teen drivers' licenses and found Texas is alone in seeing the number of teen drivers involved in fatal crashes drop for five consecutive years.
"Texas is doing a better job than any of the other states," said Texas Transportation Institute researcher Bernie Fette, co-author of the 46-page report released Monday. Fette credited not just the license restrictions but also programs in high schools to get kids focused on safe road behavior.
Since 2002, when 625 teen drivers were involved in fatal crashes, Texas' numbers have come down each year. In 2007, 419 fatal crashes involved teen drivers.
That's still a lot of lost lives, and it's still keeping some parents on edge over the prospect of turning over the keys. Just ask Gracie Mendez, who turns 16 in two months, but won't be doing any driving soon.
In March, Gracie's friend Miriam Ramirez, 16, left school with two friends and died a few minutes later, when she lost control of her Taurus and smashed into a sport utility vehicle.
"That's the reason my mom is not going to let me drive till maybe I am 18," said Mendez, who will be a sophomore at Adamson High School in Oak Cliff. "That's the conversation we are having. I am hoping to change her mind, but she says even if I am being safe, it's the people around me she is worried about. Somebody next to me might be driving drunk or something."
Her mother, Maria Guerrero, said it's about more than just the risk of other drivers. A license requires responsibility – and she's not sure her daughter has it yet.
"If she gets her license now, and then gets some tickets, well, when she is 18 she is going to have to pay for herself," Guerrero said. "And I don't want her insurance to be sky high by then."
Source
Monday, July 20, 2009
Dallas North Tollway wrong-way crashes prompt look at deterrents
Area highway authorities are scrambling to figure out what they can do to stanch a spate of recent wrong-way crashes – including one on the Dallas North Tollway early Sunday – that have claimed the lives of four people already this year and seriously injured several more.
Officials with the North Texas Tollway Authority place most of the blame on intoxicated drivers and say they are researching ways to alert law-abiding motorists when wrong-way drivers are headed at them.
"People drink and drive," said Steve Lombardi, an Iowa personal injury attorney who has tracked wrong-way driving incidents across the country for nearly two years. "It's human nature."
Wrong-way driving has been reduced in some places by lowering warning signs to eye level, installing flashing signs that warn drivers of an approaching wrong-way motorist and putting down reflectorized wrong-way pavement arrows.
In Harris County, a system of 14 sensors that detect wrong-way drivers at exit ramps along the Westpark Tollway has been triggered 10 times since being installed last year. All of the drivers were stopped before they caused an accident. Six of them were suspected of being under the influence.
The sensors, which cost between $25,000 and $50,000, depending on infrastructure needs, use the same wireless microwave technology used to detect vehicles at traffic lights and to report traffic conditions on freeways.
When a wrong-way driver is detected, an audio and visual alarm is instantly sent to the tollway dispatch center, where dispatchers then verify the wrong-way vehicle via surveillance cameras.
With the click of a button, a message is transmitted on the roadway's message board to inform motorists that a wrong-way driver is headed their way and to instruct them to pull over to the shoulder.
"Wrong-way detection does not stop wrong-way drivers," said Randy Johnson, administrator of incident management for the Harris County Toll Road Authority, among the first agencies in the nation to use the sensors on such a scale. "It gives law enforcement and the motorists a heads-up."
Source
Officials with the North Texas Tollway Authority place most of the blame on intoxicated drivers and say they are researching ways to alert law-abiding motorists when wrong-way drivers are headed at them.
"People drink and drive," said Steve Lombardi, an Iowa personal injury attorney who has tracked wrong-way driving incidents across the country for nearly two years. "It's human nature."
Wrong-way driving has been reduced in some places by lowering warning signs to eye level, installing flashing signs that warn drivers of an approaching wrong-way motorist and putting down reflectorized wrong-way pavement arrows.
In Harris County, a system of 14 sensors that detect wrong-way drivers at exit ramps along the Westpark Tollway has been triggered 10 times since being installed last year. All of the drivers were stopped before they caused an accident. Six of them were suspected of being under the influence.
The sensors, which cost between $25,000 and $50,000, depending on infrastructure needs, use the same wireless microwave technology used to detect vehicles at traffic lights and to report traffic conditions on freeways.
When a wrong-way driver is detected, an audio and visual alarm is instantly sent to the tollway dispatch center, where dispatchers then verify the wrong-way vehicle via surveillance cameras.
With the click of a button, a message is transmitted on the roadway's message board to inform motorists that a wrong-way driver is headed their way and to instruct them to pull over to the shoulder.
"Wrong-way detection does not stop wrong-way drivers," said Randy Johnson, administrator of incident management for the Harris County Toll Road Authority, among the first agencies in the nation to use the sensors on such a scale. "It gives law enforcement and the motorists a heads-up."
Source
Monday, July 13, 2009
Desperate car owners turn to insurance fraud
Los Angeles -- Driven to desperation, a growing number of financially strapped car owners are torching, sinking or ditching their vehicles and then reporting them stolen to cash in on the insurance.
SUVs have been found ablaze in the Nevada desert, cars have been dumped in a Miami canal and a BMW was discovered buried in a field in Texas. Some vehicles have been parked in the path of a hurricane.
Known as owner give-ups, the scams have increased even as auto thefts dropped nationally -- a sign that the deepening recession is pushing the trend.
Authorities say most of the false claims are filed by first-time offenders looking for a quick financial fix with little regard for the consequences.
"We see people doing this kind of crime who ordinarily wouldn't steal candy from a store," said Tom Reilly, a sheriff's investigator in Dallas County, Texas.
James Quiggle, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, blames the problem on people who think "insurance companies are rich and fat and won't miss a few dollars."
Experts say the billions of dollars in insurance losses are actually recouped from honest consumers as premium increases.
When gas prices shot up to $4 a gallon last summer, investigators reported a number of suspicious auto theft claims involving SUVs and other gas guzzlers.
But as gas prices dipped and the economy sputtered, the trend extended to all kinds of models, with losses concentrated in regions hit hard by layoffs, foreclosures and other signs of economic distress.
Two years ago, Las Vegas detectives were looking into two or three cases of suspicious auto theft a week. But in the past 2 1/2 months, they have investigated 83 such cases and made 11 arrests -- more than a three-fold increase, said Lt. Bob Duvall, head of the city's Metropolitan Police Department's auto theft unit.
Police helicopters now patrol the desert around Las Vegas in search of smoldering vehicles or others pushed off cliffs.
In one case, investigators came across a man suffering from burns at the home of a woman whose vehicle had been found ablaze. He was arrested and quickly confessed, Duvall said.
The New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud says the number of people arrested statewide on suspicion of making false auto theft reports jumped from 96 in 2007 to 130 in 2008.
In Dallas County, Reilly estimates suspicious auto theft reports have increased 12 percent this year.
Investigators in border states are finding an increasing number of charred cars with American license plates in Mexico.
"It's one thing to find a stolen car in Mexico, it's another to find it stolen and burned in Mexico. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a thief to take your car and burn it," said Tom Downey, an investigator with the National Insurance Crime Bureau based in San Diego.
Such cases can result in felony charges of insurance fraud, making false statements to police and insurance providers, and arson, if the car is burned.
Along with serving prison time, defendants can also be ordered to pay restitution.
Reilly says most of his cases don't make it to trial because suspects strike plea deals. Some even agree to discuss their crimes in videotaped interviews that Reilly uses for educational seminars.
"Some said my back was against the wall, or this looked like a good idea at the time, who can I hurt?" Reilly said.
Brian Moody, senior editor of the Web site Edmunds.com that offers information to car shoppers, says owners trying to lower their debt can attempt to renegotiate payments, sell their car or trade it in for a less expensive model.
"You're not going make money that's for sure, but the big selling point is that it's legal," he said.
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SUVs have been found ablaze in the Nevada desert, cars have been dumped in a Miami canal and a BMW was discovered buried in a field in Texas. Some vehicles have been parked in the path of a hurricane.
Known as owner give-ups, the scams have increased even as auto thefts dropped nationally -- a sign that the deepening recession is pushing the trend.
Authorities say most of the false claims are filed by first-time offenders looking for a quick financial fix with little regard for the consequences.
"We see people doing this kind of crime who ordinarily wouldn't steal candy from a store," said Tom Reilly, a sheriff's investigator in Dallas County, Texas.
James Quiggle, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, blames the problem on people who think "insurance companies are rich and fat and won't miss a few dollars."
Experts say the billions of dollars in insurance losses are actually recouped from honest consumers as premium increases.
When gas prices shot up to $4 a gallon last summer, investigators reported a number of suspicious auto theft claims involving SUVs and other gas guzzlers.
But as gas prices dipped and the economy sputtered, the trend extended to all kinds of models, with losses concentrated in regions hit hard by layoffs, foreclosures and other signs of economic distress.
Two years ago, Las Vegas detectives were looking into two or three cases of suspicious auto theft a week. But in the past 2 1/2 months, they have investigated 83 such cases and made 11 arrests -- more than a three-fold increase, said Lt. Bob Duvall, head of the city's Metropolitan Police Department's auto theft unit.
Police helicopters now patrol the desert around Las Vegas in search of smoldering vehicles or others pushed off cliffs.
In one case, investigators came across a man suffering from burns at the home of a woman whose vehicle had been found ablaze. He was arrested and quickly confessed, Duvall said.
The New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud says the number of people arrested statewide on suspicion of making false auto theft reports jumped from 96 in 2007 to 130 in 2008.
In Dallas County, Reilly estimates suspicious auto theft reports have increased 12 percent this year.
Investigators in border states are finding an increasing number of charred cars with American license plates in Mexico.
"It's one thing to find a stolen car in Mexico, it's another to find it stolen and burned in Mexico. It doesn't make a lot of sense for a thief to take your car and burn it," said Tom Downey, an investigator with the National Insurance Crime Bureau based in San Diego.
Such cases can result in felony charges of insurance fraud, making false statements to police and insurance providers, and arson, if the car is burned.
Along with serving prison time, defendants can also be ordered to pay restitution.
Reilly says most of his cases don't make it to trial because suspects strike plea deals. Some even agree to discuss their crimes in videotaped interviews that Reilly uses for educational seminars.
"Some said my back was against the wall, or this looked like a good idea at the time, who can I hurt?" Reilly said.
Brian Moody, senior editor of the Web site Edmunds.com that offers information to car shoppers, says owners trying to lower their debt can attempt to renegotiate payments, sell their car or trade it in for a less expensive model.
"You're not going make money that's for sure, but the big selling point is that it's legal," he said.
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