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You might find a few minutes reading how car insurance works educational, as well as this from another company, just to have more than once source. Arguing from a position of factual error doesn't help your cause, and doesn't might you look bright.

You might also want to think through the likely consequences of removing the current serious financial penalties for being a bad driver. Or do you not care about any of that, and all you really want is government takeover of some industry, regardless of downsides? If that's your agenda, don't hide it behind distractions.

Whitewater and Stone Mountain. Yes, stone mountain has snow http://www.stonemountainpark.c... a few times yearly AND in the middle of summer for a few days.
Or in 3 hrs - there's mountain skiing: http://blog.allstate.com/5-ski...
Or at the beach: http://www.surfing-waves.com/f...

Or I can spend a week in Cali and do it for $2K (airfare/hotel included). Hardly worth living there all the time over that. The cost of living in Cali is obscene.

BTW, people in Dubai can surf and ski in the same morning if they like too.
* http://www.skidxb.com/
* http://www.surfshoparabia.com/...

In order to achieve anything like that, everyone would be compelled to have a self-driving car and all current cars would be scrapped. Good luck with getting that to happen in America.

First, give us about 20 years. Average car 'life expectancy' is around 13. After some point people will end up driving their classic cars on tracks, but even without that the autodrive systems they're working on can be on the road with non-AI cars. You just need the 'vast majority'.

Besides that, insisting on alcohol and drug tests is missing 'most' of the problem. 'Only' 35-40% of fatal crashes involved(not necessarily caused by) alcohol, and while I'm sure other drugs contribute as well, I do not believe that they pass the 50% mark. You still have to worry about those driving distracted, tired, old, young, mad, and just bad.

No, the 'fix' isn't drug testing. The 'fix' is to get rid of the driver.

I've yet to see a test of what happens with a self-driving car when it has a tire blow-out at 60 mph. I suspect it won't be pretty. Or what happens when it encounters an accident or incident involving the police.

Is there any reason to believe that they wouldn't assess this and program in the proper, yet counter-intuitive, course of action? As for accident/incident/construction - do you have any idea of how many accidents have been caused by human drivers rubbernecking? The police throw out their lights and such, the car recognizes that something's up, and it does what's necessary. Well, google apparently still has some work to do on getting it's system to recognize and work with cones correctly, but they're working on it.

Then there is the problem of liability. If an SDC hits another - who is responsible?

Assuming it hasn't been improperly modified but has been properly maintained, and wasn't 'set up' like being put on a slick ramp, or caused by 'act of nature' like an earthquake or tsunami, I'd generally point to the manufacturer of the striking SDC. Remember my first criteria for a SDC is 'doesn't hit stuff'. From what I've seen, it looks like they have that pretty well covered, better than humans. The problem they have right now is that they can get 'stuck' where they can't see a safe way out so they don't move. Improper pathing that can get them stuck, etc...

See also (sorry for the ad-laden links, but they're the top two results):
http://www.carinsurancequote.net/auto-accident-fraud.html
http://www.4autoinsurancequote.com/uncategorized/swoop-and-squat-auto-insurance-fraud/

Interestingly, the July Wired has an article about Eugene Kaspersky pushing for and ITU takeover of the internet and an end to anonymity.

It's not paranoid if it's reality.
It's not a theory if it's documented.
And there's on conspiracy, it's just the usual TPTB grasping to regain some of the control that has slipped away from them of late.


Bradley Manning should be in an Allstate commercial.

They don't just mean my (coverage limit so low premium so high I simply reject it) bodily injury coverage. It includes property damage, collision coverage, and liability coverage.

I've seen the clause enforced as well.

I was going to europe a few weeks ago, and having heard about several friends' cameras being stolen, I was really worried about my new Nikon D70 camera. I called up my insurance company, and asked them if there was any way I could insure my camera, and they said I could insure my $1500 camera for $30/year, which I did. So, regardless of where I have my camera, if something happens to it, being my fault or someone elses, it is covered under this insurance, which is called scheduled personal property . I don't know if they do it for smaller items, but if you have anything that's quite expensive, you might want to look into this.

Oh, and by the way, I'm back from europe, and my camera is fine. =)

• The electronic parking brake is unintuitive and dangerous. One of the factors that make some cars safer than others is the ease of use of the parking break in situations in which the main brake lines lose pressure or the pedal snaps off. This causes the liability and collision insurance rates to be slightly higher.
• A standard shift lever on an automatic transmission is considered a safety feature, as both the position and the dash lights make it immediately apparent to the driver that the car is in gear. The 745i has only the light, and even at that, the light is stuck in the middle of a confusing, crowded console. This also increases risk and thus insurance rates.
• The fact that many Americans are afraid of technology and unable to perform a task as simple as changing their VCR clock or installing a new hard drive is a chilling reminder of the fact that valets, test drivers, and other "guest drivers" of the 745i will be putting the driving public at risk and increasing the owner's insurance rates.
• Since it is extraordinarily difficult to do something as simple as turning on headlights or changing the radio station, the driver's attention is likely to be diverted from the road.

Whose hands can you trust?

Allstate's!