Distracted Driving is the #1 Killer of American Teens

New National Survey Shows Eighty-Two Percent

of Young Adults Say They Have Read a

Standard Text Message While Driving

Washington, D.C., October 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Eighty-two percent of young adult drivers (16-24) have read a standard text message while driving, according to a national survey conducted by the Ad Council. In an effort to educate young drivers about the dangers of texting while driving, the State Attorneys General and Consumer Protection agencies, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council are launching a new public service advertising campaign (PSA) nationwide. The campaign includes TV, radio, outdoor and digital PSAs. Additionally, to extend the campaign messages online, new Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social media channels go live today.

NHTSA reports that distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens. Sixteen percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) reports that a texting driver is twenty-three times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver.

Give Pedestrians a Break and a Brake

In 1975, Hollywood released the cult action film Death Race 2000. It was a brutal cross-country race of the future where contestants scored points for speed and the number of innocent pedestrians struck and killed.

Time for a reality check American motorists, Death Race 2000 was a movie!

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 4,92 pedestrian fatalities in 2009 and 59,000 pedestrian reported injuries in the same year. On average, a pedestrian was killed every two hours and injured every nine minutes in traffic crashes.

41% of all children under the age of 10 who were killed in traffic crashes were pedestrians. Pedestrians age 65+ accounted for 19% of all pedestrian fatalities in 2009. In Minnesota, 10% of all traffic fatalities were pedestrians (2009).

We are long overdue to give pedestrians a break and a brake. This is not a movie!

5 Simple Pedestrian Life and Injury Saving Driving Do's

1. Make eye contact with the pedestrian. Let them know you see them and then expect the unexpected. A horn and brake lights are not standard options on a pedestrian.
2. When coming to a stop at a controlled intersection, stop before the crosswalk, not on it and not through it. You are stopping because you have a red light. This means kids entering the crosswalk to your left and/or on your right have a green light. GIVE THEM THE CROSSWALK!
3. Threading the needle is a sewing term not a driving strategy. Just because there is space in between pedestrians crossing the street, does not mean you shoot through it. Make absolutely sure the crosswalk is clear. The gap can and does fill in quickly when one is trying to catch their bus.
4. When approaching a street from an alley, STOP BEFORE the SIDEWALK. Make sure the sidewalk is clear before you cross the walk and enter the street. Not only is it the law, but picture yourself telling mom who is pushing her child in the stroller how sorry you are for the accident!
5. Right turn on Red scares we pedestrians to death. First, the driver has more than likely already blocked the crosswalk, Secondly, driver totally focused on traffic to his/her right, because, God forbid, the driver pulls out too soon and gets hit by a vehicle with the green light. Thirdly, how long has it been since the "right turn on red" driver bothered to look to the right and see if anyone is entering the crosswalk? Finally, there appears to be a small window to make the turn on red however one needs to give it more gas to make the turn. Scary scenario: pedestrian in crosswalk hit by an accelerating "right turn on red" vehicle.

We all have obligation to bring our "A" game when operating a vehicle around pedestrians.

NHTSA Creates New Web Page Dedicated to School Bus Safety

School Transportation News
October 24, 2011
By Ryan Gray

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced at the NAPT Annual Summit that it has created a new web page dedicated entirely to school bus safety.

This extensive new resource is geared toward school transportation professionals and the public, and it features numerous training materials, such as training for school bus drivers. It also provides the latest news in school transportation and industry regulations as well as information on current issues like seat belts and safer bus-stop locations.

NHTSA’s school bus program administrator, announced that the updated School Bus Driver In-Service Safety Series is now available online at www.stnonline.com/go/856. The training covers such topics as driver attitude and knowledge of bus routes, emergency evacuations, highway rail grade crossings, loading and unloading, vehicle training and student management, including students with special needs.

School buses are the safest mode of transportation for getting children back and forth to school

Every 15 1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. dies as result of a vehicle crash

American Highways, Streets and Roadways

Should Not be Confused

with the Jungles of Vietnam

58,148 Americans killed during the Vietnam War

33,808 deaths in U.S. from vehicle "accidents" in 2009

Come on America, PAY ATTENTION

Every 5.7 seconds: a vehicle crash is reported to the police.

Every 15 1/2 minutes: someone dies from a vehicle crash

Every 5 minutes: pedestrian or bicyclist injured in traffic crash

The highest price we pay for car crashes is in the loss of human lives, however society also bears the brunt of the many costs associated with motor vehicle accidents.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in 2010 that the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with motor vehicle crash injuries was over $99 billion, or nearly $500, for each licensed driver in the United States. In addition, every 10 seconds an American is treated in an emergency department for crash-related injuries, based on data from 2005.

A 2008 report by the Automobile Association of America states that according to the Federal Highway Administration, the per-person cost of traffic fatalities in 2005 dollars is $3.2 million and $68,170 for injuries. AAA estimates the cost of traffic crashes to be $166.7 billion. Costs include medical, emergency services, police services, property damage, lost productivity, and quality of life. Read AAA executive summary (PDF).

In 2010, an estimated 32,788 people died in motor vehicle crashes, down 3 percent from 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In 2009, 33,808 people died in motor vehicle crashes and an additional 2,217,000 people were injured.

Who Pays?

Private insurers pay approximately 50% of all motor vehicle crash costs. Individual crash victims pay about 26%, while third parties such as uninvolved motorists delayed in traffic, charities and health care providers pay about 14%. Federal revenues account for 6%, while state and local municipalities pick up about 3%. Overall, those not directly involved in crashes pay for nearly three-quarters of all crash costs, primarily through insurance premiums, taxes and travel delay (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Crash Type and Driver Behavior

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports in 2009 there were 5,505,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, down 5.3% from 5,811,000 in 2008. Of total crashes, 1,517,000 caused injuries and 3,957,000 caused property damage only.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates about 10 million or more crashes go unreported each year.
• Alcohol-Related Crashes: In 2009, 10,839 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes, down 7.4% from 11,711 in 2008. In 2009, alcohol-impaired crash fatalities accounted for 32% of all crash deaths. There is an alcohol-impaired traffic fatality every 48 minutes in the U.S.
• Drunk Driving and Speeding: In 2009, 43% of intoxicated drivers (with a blood-alcohol content at or above 0.08%) involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with 17% of sober drivers involved in fatal crashes.
• Speeding: In 2009, 10,591 lives were lost due to speed-related accidents.
• Speed-related crashes cost Americans $40.4 billion each year.
• In 2009, 39% of 15- to 20-year-old male drivers who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash.
  
• Red Light Running: More than 900 people a year die and nearly 2,000 are injured as a result of vehicles running red lights. About half of those deaths are pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles who are hit by red light runners.
• Fatigue: A study released in November 2010 conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety using NHTSA data for 1999-2008 found that 16.5%, or about 1 in 6 fatal crashes, involved a drowsy driver.
• Distracted Driving: A September 2010 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that in 2010 5,474 people were killed and 448,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted driving. The percentage of people killed in such crashes rose from 10% of all motor vehicle crash fatalities in 2005 to 16% in 2009. Of those people killed, 995 involved reports of a cellphone as a distraction, or 18% of all distracted driving crash fatalities.
• Cellphone Use: In September 2009 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Center for Statistics and Analysis released the results of their National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which found that in 2008, 6% of drivers used hand-held cellphones, the same percentage as in 2007. Hand-held cellphone use was highest among 16 to 24 year olds (8% in 2008, down from 9% in 2007) and lowest among drivers 70 and older (1% in both 2007 and 2008).
• Non-Use of Seatbelts=$20 billion.

Hat tip to RMIIA (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association for the layout)

Workers' Compensation Loss Ratio to Reach 121.5%

Time to Manage Risk!
The insurance industry's loss trend is not

transportation's friend.

Business Insurance

By Roberto Ceniceros
October 12, 2011

Workers compensation insurers' underwriting results are likely to weaken further before improving and “conditions appear grim over the near term,” A.M. Best Co. Inc. said Wednesday.

The combined ratio for the workers comp line is projected to reach 121.5% for 2011, up from 118.1% in 2010, a year in which the “business deteriorated sharply” and the industry's combined ratio rose to the highest level since 2000, according to Best's Market Review.

However, premium growth for 2011 is on track to be positive for the first time since 2005, after declining more than 30% over the previous five years, Best said. While net premiums written declined for most insurers in 2010, a number of companies did experience increases.

Factors Responsible

Several factors are responsible, including competitive market conditions, a weak economy, growing medical costs and an upturn in claims frequency, Best said.

“Furthermore, the economic downturn and slow recovery continue to have a major influence on the manufacturing and contracting sectors, which tend to be significant contributors to premium volume in the workers comp line,” Best said in the report.

As a result, net written premiums for the line declined 3.6% to $34.1 billion during 2010.

ISO Reports U.S. Insurers' Net Income Down 71%

No, the sky is not falling on the soft market

conditions however...objects in the mirror are

closer than they appear...

On September 30th, A.M Best reported that the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry’s net income fell 67% to $6.9 billion during the first six months of this year compared with the same period a year earlier. They also reported that the industry’s combined ratio deteriorated more than 9 percentage points to 109.6%, according to the report. Now it is ISO's turn...


Property Casualty 360
By Mark Ruquet
October 10, 2011

The first-half results for property and casualty insurers are in and the results are not very pretty, as the industry reported more than a 71 percent drop in net income.

In a report issued by the Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office (ISO), the Des Plaines, Ill.-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) and the New York-based Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), private U.S. P&C insurers’ net income fell to $4.8 billion for the first half of 2011 compared to $16.8 billion for the same period a year ago.

Driving the decline were net losses on underwriting, growing $19 billion to more than $24 billion for the first half of the year.

The total combined ratio for the carriers deteriorated 8.8 points to 110.5 for the first half of the year.Complete Article

Experience Modification Alert: The Rules are Changing

While some of the details have not yet been announced,

one thing is clear: employers with higher-than-expected losses

 are likely to pay more for insurance.

Workers' Comp Insider
By: Jon Coppelman
September 26, 2011

It's been over 20 years since NCCI changed the rules relating to the calculation of the experience modification factor. Given that experience modification determines the cost of insurance for all but self-insured employers, these changes require careful scrutiny. While some of the details have not yet been announced, one thing is clear: employers with higher-than-expected losses are likely to pay more for insurance. [NOTE: the Insider apologizes in advance for what is inevitably a rather technical discussion. For readers who would like additional background, check out our 2004 primer here.]

Under the current system, claim dollars - what's been paid and what's been set aside for future payment on each claim - fall into one of three categories:
- Primary losses: the first $5,000 of each claim. These losses carry the most weight and drive up the experience mod much quicker than the losses above $5,000.
- Excess losses: the losses above $5,000 within each claim. These are discounted in the calculation, with as little as 10 percent of the total included in the calculation (depending upon the size of the premium)
- State Rating Point: the cap on individual claim dollars beyond which the losses are excluded from the calculation; this varies from state to state, generally falling between $125,000 and $200,000.

NCCI is expanding primary losses from the current level of $5,000 up to 15,000. This change will take place over a three year period, with the ceiling rising to $10,000 in the first year, $13,500 in the second year and $15,000 in the third year.

Why does this matter? Primary losses are the major cost driver in experience rating. Primary losses are not discounted: they go into the formula dollar for dollar. As a result, employers with moderately large claims (between $5,000 and $25,000) are likely to see an increase in their experience mod.

Winners and Losers
NCCI actuaries are working under the requirement that total premiums within a state remain the same under the new system. In other words, when they apply the new rules, experience mods will go up or down for individual employers, but the total premium in the state will stay the same.

On an individual insured level, there will be winners and losers. Here is our advice to any employers with debit mods (above 1.0) in states managed by NCCI: follow these new NCCI developments carefully. [The easiest way to do this, of course, is to keep reading the Insider.]

Primary losses remain the biggest cost driver in the workers comp system and primary losses within individual claims are about to double and soon triple. The strategies for experience mod management that were effective with the primary loss ceiling at $5,000 may no longer apply. As the rules of the game change, savvy managers will change with them.

NCCI Update

WI September Traffic Deaths Lowest Since WW II, However...

Let's not get too excited about "best in over one half a century". Year-to-date, 409 people never returned home and 9% of traffice deaths year-to-date were pedestrians.

Pedestrians must never be confused with...



Wisconsin Department of Transportation
October 6, 2011
Press Release

WISCONSIN - With a total of 46 traffic fatalities, last month was the safest month of September in terms of deaths on Wisconsin roads since World War II, according to preliminary statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).

The previous safest month of September occurred in 2008 with 50 traffic deaths.

The deadliest September was in 1973 with 116 fatalities.

Traffic fatalities last month were 12 fewer than September 2010 and 17 fewer than the five-year average for the month of September.

As of the end of September, 409 people have died in 380 Wisconsin traffic crashes, including 70 motorcycle drivers, seven motorcycle passengers, 36 pedestrians and 10 bicyclists. Traffic deaths through September were 17 fewer than during the same period in 2010 and 67 fewer than the five-year average.

“Although fewer people lost their lives on our roads than any other month of September in more than half a century, there were still 46 people who didn’t return home because of a crash,” says Major Sandra Huxtable, director of the WisDOT Bureau of Transportation Safety.

“Any preventable traffic death is one too many. Motorists can help reach our goal of zero preventable traffic deaths in Wisconsin by slowing down, making sure everyone in their vehicle is buckled up, always driving sober, and eliminating distractions behind the wheel.”

Auto Physical Damage Loss Ratio UP 21% Year Over Year

Just How Long Will Premiums

Remain Flat???

Insurance Journal
October 6, 2011

Tornadoes and thunderstorms in the South and Midwest made the 2011 second quarter tumultuous for U.S. property writers.

The industry loss ratio, before consideration of reinsurance, climbed to 70.6 percent, marking the industry’s second worst performance since 2001 and far outpacing the loss ratios of 58.1 percent and 56.2 percent for the 2010 and 2009 second quarters, respectively, according to SNL Insurance, a division of SNL. The industry premium remained essentially flat, decreasing just 0.2 percent from the 2010 second quarter.

Auto insurance companies also took a big hit thanks to major catastrophes.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. auto writer, took a major blow to its profitability in the quarter.

State Farm experienced a direct loss ratio of 86.3 percent for auto physical damage, approximately 2,000 basis points higher than the loss ratios reported for the previous two second quarters. State Farm writes almost a quarter of all auto physical damage premium in the tornado-affected states of Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma, more than the next three largest writers combined.

The rest of the top five overall writers — Allstate Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. — including GEICO Corp., Progressive Corp. and Zurich Financial Services Ltd. — including 21st Century and Farmers Group Inc. — all saw their loss ratios increase compared to the second quarter of 2010, though these increases were smaller than that experienced by State Farm.

Travelers Cos. Inc., Erie Indemnity Co., Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Group and State Auto Financial Corp. also saw sizable hits to their loss ratios. Complete Article

Think speeding will get you there faster? Really???

The Minnesota Safety Council, in an experiment, had two drivers travel over the same 1,000-mile route in similar vehicles. The fast driver passed 2,000 cars, braked 1,339 times, and covered the distance in 20 hours, 12 minutes. The slow driver flowed with traffic, passed only 13 cars, and braked 652 times. It took him 20 hours, 43 minutes, just 31 minutes longer than the fast driver. The faster car used 10 gallons more gas, and the driver's pulse rate rose because of the tension and the risks he had taken. Is traveling faster really worth it?

Reaction Times While Texting Double That When You PAY ATTENTION

Texas Transportation Institute
By Chris Sasser
October 5, 2011


Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute have determined that a driver’s reaction time is doubled when distracted by reading or sending a text message. The study reveals how the texting impairment is even greater than many experts believed, and demonstrates how texting drivers are less able to react to sudden roadway hazards.

The study – the first published work in the U.S. to examine texting while driving in an actual driving environment – consisted of three major steps. First, participants typed a story of their choice (usually a simple fairy tale) and also read and answered questions related to another story, both on their smart phone in a laboratory setting. Each participant then navigated a test-track course involving both an open section and a section lined by construction barrels. Drivers first drove the course without texting, then repeated both lab tasks separately while driving through the course again. Throughout the test-track exercise, each participant’s reaction time to a periodic flashing light was recorded.

Reaction times with no texting activity were typically between one and two seconds. Reaction times while texting, however, were at least three to four seconds. Worse yet, drivers were more than 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light altogether when they were texting. The researchers say that the study findings extend to other driving distractions that involve reading or writing, such as checking e-mail or Facebook.

The study, sponsored by the Southwest Region University Transportation Center, was managed by Christine Yager, an associate transportation researcher in TTI’s Center for Transportation Safety. 42 drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 participated in the research.

The total distance covered by each driver in the study was slightly less than 11 miles. In the interest of safety for both participants and the research staff, researchers minimized the complexity of the driving task, using a straight-line course that contained no hills, traffic or potential conflicts other than the construction zone barrels. Consequently, the driving demands that participants encountered were considerably lower than those they would encounter under real-world conditions.

“It is frightening,” the researchers wrote, “to think of how much more poorly our participants may have performed if the driving conditions were more consistent with routine driving.”

Full Report and Video

Distracted Drivers Caused 16% of All Traffic Deaths...Get Off the Damn Phone

People I Do Not Want to Experience

While They Are On a Cell Phone

Annoying and So Self Centered

I Will Floss 5 Times a Day and take my chances

Tonsillectomy...not a Vasectomy

Til Death Do Us Part...NOT!

The Washington Post
By Ashley Halsey III
October 4, 2011

You know them when you see them behind the wheel of that car on the highway that can’t seem to stay between the white lines.

You used to think: Can that driver really be drunk at 10 a.m.?

Now you think something else, and you’re probably right.

Thirty-five percent of drivers said they’ve read or sent a text message while driving in the last month, according to a new survey. Sixty-seven percent said they talked on a cellphone while driving in the past month, and almost a third said they do it regularly.

But virtually everyone agrees that dealing with text messaging and cellphones while driving is a serious threat to their safety, according to the same survey, conducted on behalf of the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety.

It isn’t the first survey to shed light on the contradiction between what Americans do and what they think is right, but the percentages are particularly striking. Ninety-five percent of drivers consider text messaging as a serious threat, while 88 percent feel the same way about cellphone use.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says that 5,474 people were killed and an estimated 448,000 were injured in 2009 in accidents that involved distracted driving. NHTSA said that accounted for about 16 percent of all traffic deaths. Continue Reading

Property/Casualty Insurance Companies' Net Income Tanks 67% in First half of 2011

Business Insurance
By Mark Hoffman
September 30, 2011

The U.S. property/casualty insurance industry’s net income fell 67% to $6.9 billion during the first six months of this year compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report to be released by A.M. Best Co. on Monday.

The industry’s combined ratio deteriorated more than 9 percentage points to 109.6%, according to the report. Oldwick, N.J.-based Best noted that the industry sustained $27 Billion in catastrophe losses during the first half of this year, which added 12.8 percentage points to the combined ratio.

Investment income edged up about 4% to $28.7 billion during the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year. Policyholder surplus stayed virtually flat at $556.2 billion during the first six months of this year compared with $554.3 billion at the end of 2010.

Because of a number of factors, “the industry’s performance measures are likely to remain under pressure for the remainder of 2011,” said Best. These include “continued expectations for weak underwriting results due to elevated catastrophe-related losses through the third quarter,” “challenging market conditions” in commercial lines, a sluggish economy and relatively low investment yields, as well as volatility in the investment markets, said Best.

ShieldsTransit

109.6% combined ratio does not lend itself for a continuation of "soft market pricing." 87% of the chief financial officers said they believed the casualty market was still soft or at the bottom of the cycle in June, 80% of them said it was within two years of hardening, according to a statement.

Next Up...Preparing for a Hardening Market Cycle

95 percent of drivers believe texting while driving is dangerous, yet 35% still text

How dare those who text and drive place my

family and friends in harm's way.

Washington, DC

For the fourth consecutive year, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety's annual Traffic Safety Culture Index shows drivers know that cell phone use and texting while driving are dangerous, yet they continue to do it anyway.

Specifically, data from the 2011 survey found that 95 percent of drivers view texting or emailing by other drivers as a serious threat to their own personal safety, however, 35 percent of those same drivers also admitted to having read or sent a text message or email in the previous month.

According to the survey, 88% percent of drivers feel talking on a phone is a threat to safety, yet two-thirds admitted to having talked on a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days.

More Do as I say, Not as I Do