Post Date March 28, 2013 – A Federal Lawsuit was filed against a  Long Haul Truck Driver  was involved in an deadly collision in January of this year.  As a result of this incident, two women were killed as a result of the supposed negligence. The lawsuit came from the husband of one of the fatalities, Suzanne K. Stephenson, 65 years old, a resident of Monroeville, Indiana.  Mrs. Stephenson was a member of the Monroeville Town Council for  over 18 years.  The driver identified as Scott A. Saunders, is being sued for $75,000 of damages. Saunders was driving his semi-trailer rear-ended two vehicles that resulted to the death of two women, and injuries to seven other people. The said accident also caused a pile-up on the said highway. If found liable the Truckers Commercial Truck Insurance Policy will be forced to the $75,000.00.

Commercial Truck Insurance is vital to any shipping business…….

The other fatality was identified as Sandra Dealy, 43 years old, of Convoy, Ohio. Both Stephenson and Dealy were driving two seperate cars at the time of the collision.  A State Police investigations revealed that at that time the light  green and the traffic had already started moving forward when the truck driver failed to slow down.  The Semi hit the rear end of the Stephenson car resulting in her death. The semi that Saunders was driving is owned by Kutzler Express, a Wisconsin-based trucking company. Kutzler is also being named in the lawsuit file by Mr. Stephenson. Although this agent is not aware of the Commercial Truck Insurance carriers covering the drivers vehicle; any shipping enterprise which uses trucks to move freight must purchase a Commercial Truck Insurance  Policy.

The crash is now being investigated by the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office. The actual cause of this fatal accident has not yet been determined.  It’s possible this is an issue of negligence or a maintenance problem.   Regardless; the injured parties as well the families of those killed in the accident can file a lawsuit seeking compensation for their loss.  It is for these events that trucking operators, company or independent are required to Commercial Truck Insurance liability to compensate others for the injuries it has inflicted to other parties in the course of operating the vehicle. If you are in need of Truck Insurance immediately, call InsureAtruck.com.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date March 25, 2013 – Not only are drivers banned from texting while driving  in most states in the U.S., you can expect a suspended drivers license in PA for that offense. In addition to the ban from texting while driving, many states have barred drivers from using mobile communication devices. Even with the punishment of a Suspended Drivers License;  a question still exists among most states law enforcement authorities.   Does the cell phone usage ban make the roads any safer in Pennsylvania?

Texting while driving a car, truck or motorcycle will result in a suspended drivers license

Although cell phone use in cars is at least 30 years old, the use of hand held cell phones are now being examined.  It’s more vital than ever to see the long-term trends of accident rates and their relation to cellphone bans.  Many states have compared and analyzed years of driver data.  These studies where first pioneered in the State of New York before imposing the first statewide texting while driving ban. The State of Pennsylvania followed there after with punishments as severe as  multi-year suspended drivers license for with more than one offense.  Both New York and Pennsylvania have the same weather patterns and a wide diversity in size and population density of counties.

The researchers in both NY and PA classified counties into three classes – rural, very rural, and urban.  Among the three county classes, the cellphone-use ban was associated with a raising accident rate among those drivers using cell phones for texting. Both the NY and PA studies suggest that in higher driver density areas with such ban, there is a significant reduction of traffic accidents. However, in very rural areas, the cellphone ban was associated with a relative increase on accident rates. Though the study had a surprising result on very rural areas, what is clear is that, statistically speaking cellphone ban have decreased accident rates among areas which can support the idea that such shall be effective if imposed on densely populated areas.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date March 22, 2013 – Travelers Group is now the largest commercial auto insurance company in the United States. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) now indicates Travelers Commercial Auto Insurance is the largest insurer of business cars, trucks and over the road trackers in america.  Over 25 commercial auto insurance companies were compared.  They looked at market share, premiums written and earned premium.  The totals of Travelers Commercial auto insurance premiums were calculated together with private passenger auto with business use along with those Travelers Insurance Policies specifically underwritten as commercial auto insurance. Travelers commercial auto insurance was able to easily pull ahead of there competitors by having written well over two billion dollars in direct premiums besides those written through their independent agency channel.  This represents well over 8 percent of the total market share of business auto in the U.S.  Following  Travelers commercial auto insurance s are: Progressive commercial auto insurance with 1,732,227,091 direct premiums written (6.93 percent market share); Liberty Mutual with 1,550,124,925 direct premiums (6.20 percent); Zurich with 1,550,124,925 (6.13 percent); Nationwide (1,355,638,392 direct premiums (5.42 percent); American International commercial auto insurance with 993,726,565 direct premiums (3.97 percent); Old Republic with 809,595,360 direct premiums (3.24 percent); Hartford commercial auto insurance with 557,903,998 direct premiums (2.23 percent); Auto Owners with 542,622,671 (2.17 percent); and WR Berkley with 473,687,331 direct premiums (1.89 percent).

Travelers Commercial Auto Insurance is now #1 in america. Call (800) 807-0762 for a quote.

Commercial auto insurance provides insurance coverage for both business cars and trucks which are used for commerce usage. Many types of vehicles that can be considered for coverage under a companies commercial auto insurance policy.  These may include cars, vans, trucks, SUV”S.  Other types of vehicles that are being used to do business like scooters, quads and golf carts.  Like a personal auto insurance policy, it has same coverage such as liability, comprehensive, collision, uninsured motorist, medical payments. If you are looking to insure your commercial or business vehicle, log-on to insureatruck.com

-Mike 

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date March 15, 2013 – Electronic proof of auto insurance  is sweeping it’s way across the country.  Texas may be the  next  state to approve the use of electronic proof of car insurance coverage in the U.S.  Carrying a car insurance ID  in the State of Texas is as an important as carrying a valid drivers license.  New measures to allow Texas Drivers to carry an electronic proof of auto insurance will make it easy for those to show valid proof of car insurance coverage.  Currently, there are two bills pending in the State of Texas which are both asking the legislators to allow the use of electronic proof of auto insurance when consumers are being asked by law enforcers to show proof that they carry the required auto insurance in Texas.

Texas Drivers to carry an electronic proof of auto insurance

The legislative measures had already gone through committee hearings but are still pending as of the moment. SB 181, sponsored by Republican Senator Glenn Hegar might be brought to a committee voting soon. USAA, a Texas-based insurance carrier through its vice president Bo Gilbert had expressed support for SB 181. The said carrier is geared towards providing policies to service and military members. In addition to this, the Texas Coalition for Affordable Insurance Solutions had also pledged support for the said legislation. This coalition includes top insurers like Farmers and Allstate.

The other bill being proposed in Texas which is finding its way inside the House is HB 239 which was heard by the House Committee on Technology on March 4.
Most top insurance carriers in the United States are now providing auto insurance consumers with a PDF version of their policies which are now being called as insurance e-cards. This electronic proof of auto insurance versions can be showed through a smartphone or other capable mobile communication devices. Today, there are already 21 states that are discussing the possibility of allowing electronic proof of insurance. The most recent to have passed legislation on the said means of showing insurance proof is the state of Arkansas whose legislation had already been signed by its governor, Mike Beebe on March 1. The proposal in Wyoming had already passed the state legislation and is now awaiting approval from the governor.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date March 4, 2013 – PA Police officers who are tasked to enforce a new law prohibiting Pennsylvania drivers from texting while diving or using their cellphones while having their hands on the steering wheel expressed difficulty in implementing such law. Texting while driving was imposed in the state of Pennsylvania just a few months ago. Sadly, only a few months after the new law was enacted and police started enforcing it,  the police were just able to write less than 800 citations – statewide.

Texting while driving has a big cost

The bulk of these texting while driving tickets came from Pennsylvania’s south east region. Philadelphia police officers were able to ticket nearly 160 drivers, while Montgomery County officers were able to write nearly 80.Some other areas of the state were only able to write less than 20 tickets while  the remaining forty counties were only able to write 10 texting while driving tickets each.  believe it or not, there were some counties which were not able to write one texting while driving ticket.

Many police departments in Pennsylvania have stated the ban on texting while driving is too difficult, if not virtually impossible to enforce. Even if a police officer is successful in ticketing a driver for texting while driving, proving it in court is very hard to prove. Texting while driving bans are being imposed to prevent drivers from additional distractions while they are driving. The use of mobile communication devices is now more popular than ever. It has became a habit among the many. According to the PA Auditor General who submitted the bill on texting while driving ban,  he said that the goal of the new law is not just to impose fines on that law’s violators but to change their driving behavior. He predicted that a complete ban on the use of hand-held communication devices would soon replace the texting while driving ban in the state.

–Mike 

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date March 2, 2012 – With only two dissenting members, the Oregon Senate pushed forward new laws  last month which were originally proposed by the Senate’s  President proposing much more rigid penalties against drivers who are caught using there cellphones while driving a car  in the state of Oregon. Of course these new laws would involve law enforcement to issue a ticket which will cause an increase in the violators Oregon Car Insurance. The bill proposes to consider the act of using mobile phones while driving to be a more serious crime by increasing the fines set from the current $250 to $1,000. Since the infraction is so serious, your Oregon car insurance will increase dramatically.

There’s a new cost for Oregon Car Insurance if caught texting while driving

The Oregon Legislature  wants to treat Texting while driving  the same as a DUI. Of course a DUI will cause your Oregon car insurance payments to increase.  Most interesting  studies shows distracted driving, such as using your cell phone or texting can be more dangerous than drunk driving.  With that said it is appropriate the new proposed fines increase is closer to the penalties for drunk driving than running a stop sign.  Currently, Oregon has a legislation that took effect January 2010 prohibiting drivers from texting in a car under any circumstances.  The same is true for accepting a cell phone call on their cellphones while they are driving.  However, Oregon motorists are permitted to use hand-free accessories to take calls without any fear of there Oregon car insurance being effected.

From 2010 to 2012, Oregon law enforcement have already issued nearly 4,600 tickets for distracted driving which have increase the drivers Oregon car insurance. However, the number of citations issued on 2012 compared to that of 2010 has.  Further the cost of the penalties have been much tougher.   In 2010, there were only 1,012 citations issued while 2012 had 2,151 citations.  The increase in you Oregon car insurance should be a deterrent as well.

–Mike 

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206