The dangers of texting and driving

Here’s yet another story about the dangers of texting and driving. This one has a happy ending, as the young man survived, but he’s adamant about spreading the message of how this behavior can kill you. Hopefully the car insurance companies will get in on this and help spread this important safety message.

  

Fewer kids are getting their driver’s license

There are all sorts of trends out there that affect the auto industry, like how the Toyota Prius has changed how we think about hybrids and fuel efficient cars. But this one seems incredibly significant – fewer kids are getting their driver’s license these days. 30.5% of American 19-year-olds in 2010 did not have a driver’s license, which is the highest percentage ever, and a sharp increase from the 24.5% in 2008 and only 12.7% in 1983.

What’s causing this? It all has to do with the Internet, phones and social media. Today, kids don’t need a car to socialize with their friends. They can text like crazy, play games on headsets while they chat with their friends, look for a poker game by searching an online poker guide, post wild photos on Facebook or arrange a meetup through Twitter. Sure, cars are still great, but they are no longer essential for the social experience we all crave at that age.

The implications of this are huge for automakers and car insurance companies. Car companies love younger buyers, but now they’ll have to adjust their thinking a bit. Also, will insurance companies treat a new driver who is 18 the same way they would treat a 16-year-old?

It will be interesting how this affects car safety. The roads have never been safer and this might be a good trend in that area. At least some patents are breathing easier, though this also means they’ll be shlepping around their kids for a little longer.

This might also explain why the car companies are racing to add gadgets and features to cars to make them more attractive to the new social generation.

  

Renault’s 400bhp sports car in the works

Whenever a new concept car is released, particularly if it looks like it’s one of a kind, there’s always plenty of excitement from people in the motoring industry and petrolheads alike. This is certainly true of the new Renault Alpine, a mid-engined 400bhp sports car which has been unleashed on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit to demonstrate its prowess. Paying homage to Alpine, the former sports car manufacturer which was amalgamated into Renault in the 1970s, this car has set a lot of tongues wagging, wondering how much car insurance would cost if they were to buy one.

Before the brand was discontinued by Renault, Alpine’s motoring heritage was long and impressive. The A110, made during the 1960s-1970s, famously won the first ever World Rally Championship in 1973, while, not long after being taken over by Renault, they won the Le Mans race in 1978. Having been dropped in the 1990’s, the new Renault Alpine will be made available for sale, ideal for racing around a track.

Renault’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, claimed that this was their last chance to build an iconic sports car, while another member of the French manufacturer’s board said “If we don’t do it this time, we never will.”

The Alpine’s 400bhp V6 engine means that, when it finally hits showrooms, it will make a great thrill-a-minute ride for people who’ve always wanted to drive a great-looking sports car. As for the bodywork, its emphatic rear spoiler and metallic blue paintwork complete with orange trim makes it look the part.

  

Initial studies not good for lane departure systems

This is a bit of a surprise.

The high-tech, high-price systems are supposed to help inattentive drivers stay in their own lanes, not stray disastrously into nearby cars. But vehicles with the systems showed increased, not decreased, crashes in a study being released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group for insurers.

The unexpected finding that lane-departure setups increased crashes as much as 10% is inexplicable, IIHS says.

David Zuby, chief research officer at IIHS, speculates that users might find the warning sounds or vibration alerts used by lane departure systems annoying and shut them off. Or the alarms are too frequent as drivers stray slightly side to side in normal diving, and so are ignored.

That, of course, explains why they might do no good, but not necessarily why they’d do harm, he acknowledges.

The result also could be a statistical quirk, because few cars in the study had the safety feature.

This is just one study so we shouldn’t be alarmed. These things take time for drivers to figure out, but it also highlights the fact that in some ways cars are becoming too complicated to operate properly for some people.

  

Telematics starting to influence car insurance market

This story from Cleveland.com highlights an important new trend in the auto insurance business, and it will likely affect you and your own car insurance rates in the future.

When Zshavina Meacher of Cleveland traded in her car for a new 2011 Chevy Malibu last summer, her insurance premium jumped to $510 every six months. Her insurer, Progressive Corp., asked her whether she wanted to cut her rate.

If Meacher agreed to install a device in her car that monitors how safely she drives and the results were good, her rates would go down. If the results weren’t so good, her rates would stay the same. She agreed.

During the first few weeks, the device told Meacher that she slammed on her brakes a lot. She stopped the hard braking.
In February, the 23-year-old’s insurance bill dropped by $120 per six months, or 24 percent.

Meacher is happy her rates went down. And Progressive is happy the risk of Meacher getting into an accident went down. Fewer claims will help keep Mayfield-based Progressive profitable.

The technology that makes this possible is called telematics, and you’re probably going to be hearing more about it as more car insurance companies start using it and more states start permitting it. Along with Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Travelers and American Family are also trying it, though there are some patent disputes in play as Progressive tries to protect its innovation.

The key is that it works, as information about driving habits is more valuable to insurance companies than demographic information. Also, it’s not surprising that drivers will also be more careful if they know they are being monitored.

But it also raises all sorts of privacy concerns. When does health monitoring start? Do we want insurance companies knowing everything about us?