California Insurers Call for Carmageddon II

Citing a dramatic drop in claims after the first one, California auto insurers are urging state highway officials to again close a stretch of major highway for several days as they did in July.

According to the Sacramento office of the Insurance Institute of Driving, keeping cars off the road for just one weekend in July saved insurers $500 million — 2 percent of which insurers said they may pass onto policyholders in lower premiums if forced to by the state.

California Insurance Commissioner Davey Jones welcomed a Carmegeddon sequel but said he plans to hold a set of grandstanding hearings across the county to pry the real savings numbers out of the industry. Jones said he’d also like to see highways closed in other places across the state, not just in Los Angeles.