Latest Personal Auto Headlines

All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Distracted Driving Laws Save Motorcyclists’ Lives, Research Finds

Dec 6 2018 // Laws to ban or curb drivers’ use of cell phones and other handheld devices have greatly reduced the rate of fatalities for motorcyclists.States with moderate to strong bans have motorcycle fatality rates that differ...

A Cautious Uber to Try Self-Driving Vehicles on Roads Again

Dec 6 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc. is plotting the return of its self-driving cars, but the company known for its hard-charging style is taking a much more conservative approach as it tries to recover from a fatal accident that...

Investigators: Driver Fatigue Contributed to Deadly 2016 Texas Bus Crash

Dec 5 2018 // A bus driver with “acute sleep deficit” failed to stay in his lane and caused his vehicle to careen out of control, resulting in a wreck that killed nine people and injured nearly 40 others in 2016, federal...

Waymo Self-Driving, Fare-Generating Taxis Hit the Road in Arizona

Dec 5 2018 // Alphabet’s Waymo on Wednesday launched a significant development in its costly, decade-long quest for autonomous transportation: self-driving taxis that actually generate fares.With little fanfare, the company has...

Self-Driving Vehicle Regulation Bill Gets Late Push in Senate

Dec 4 2018 // Key U.S. senators are making a last-ditch effort to win approval of a bill to speed the use of self-driving cars without human controls, but face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill.Staff for Republican Senator John Thune and...

Why Parents Should Buy Bigger, Safer Vehicles for Teen Drivers

Dec 3 2018 // The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) engages in a wide variety of work to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage from crashes, but most consumers know the IIHS for its safety ratings of new vehicles. The...

Storm System Cancels Flights, Creates Treacherous Driving Conditions in Midwest

Nov 27 2018 // A wintry storm brought blizzard-like conditions to parts of the Midwest early Monday, grounding hundreds of flights and causing slick roads for commuters as they returned to work after the Thanksgiving weekend.The Chicago...

Ohio State Researchers: Road Design Impacts Distracted Driving Crash Frequency

Nov 21 2018 // A new study from Ohio State University’s Risk Institute reveals road design modifications can reduce the frequency and severity of distracted driving crashes.According to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of...

Nebraska Seeking New Ways to Warn Drivers About Deer

Nov 15 2018 // You’ve seen them — the yellow signs along the state’s rural roadways that warn of a deer crossing ahead.Trouble is, researchers say, we mostly ignore such warnings. It presents a quandary for highway safety...

New Jersey Court Ruling Could Erase 20K Drunken Driving Convictions

Nov 15 2018 // A ruling issued Tuesday by the New Jersey Supreme Court could cause more than 20,000 drunken driving convictions to be vacated.The justices unanimously found that criminal charges pending against a state police sergeant...

Officials: Driver Was Huffing Before Crash That Killed Wisconsin Girl Scouts, Mom

Nov 6 2018 // A young driver was inhaling chemical vapors, or huffing, just prior to striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a mother and critically injuring a fourth girl who had been picking up trash along a rural Wisconsin...

Ohio’s New Distracted Driving Law Now in Effect

Nov 5 2018 // A new Ohio law aimed at cutting down on distracted driving in the state went into effect on Oct. 29.The Ohio Department of Public Safety says House Bill 95 will be a significant distracted driving deterrent and an...

Kemper’s Strong Third Quarter Includes Infinity Results

Nov 5 2018 // Kemper Corp. reported net income of $92.2 million for the third quarter of 2018, compared to $47.7 million for the third quarter of 2017. As adjusted for the acquisition in the quarter of nonstandard auto insurer Infinity,...

Uber Asks to Resume Self-Driving Tests in Penn., Improves Vehicle Software

Nov 5 2018 // Uber Technologies Inc has asked Pennsylvania for permission to resume self-driving car testing on public roads and has improved the autonomous vehicle software, the company said on Friday, more than seven months after it...

Waymo Cleared to be First in California for Testing Without Backup Driver

Oct 30 2018 // Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit on Tuesday became the first company to receive a permit from the state of California to test driverless vehicles without a backup driver in the front seat, the state’s Department of...

What’s Happening and What Lies Ahead for P/C Insurance Pricing: Moody’s

Oct 30 2018 // The current pricing environment for property/casualty insurers is “modestly positive,” with commercial and personal auto rates rising by mid-to-high single digits, homeowners and commercial property rates...

10 Students, Driver Injured in Central Texas School Bus Crash

Oct 26 2018 // Investigators say 10 students and their school bus driver were injured when the vehicle was broadsided by an 18-wheeler on a Central Texas highway.The Texas Department of Public Safety says nobody was seriously hurt in the...

Ohio Village Has 10 Years to Refund Drivers in Traffic Camera Case

Oct 25 2018 // A judge will allow an Ohio village 10 years to refund an estimated $3.2 million collected from drivers for speeding citations from automated camera.New Miami’s automatic camera enforcement was ruled unconstitutional...

NJM Hires Callahan to Expand Teen Driver Safety Program in Pennsylvania

Oct 24 2018 // NJM Insurance Group (NJM), a property and casualty insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., has hired Jeneen M. Callahan to lead the expansion of its Teen Driver Safety Program into Pennsylvania.In her role,...

Teens Urged to ‘Flip the Script’ on Parents This Teen Driver Safety Week

Oct 24 2018 // Four-in-10 parents of teen drivers don’t talk to their kids about safe driving on a regular basis.That factoid, says survey sponsor Allstate, could be an incentive for teens to “flip the script” and...