Big Brother In Your Front Seat

Rick Zeman writes "Would you give up your privacy in your car to save a few bucks on your auto insurance? 'Safe' drivers who plug an electronic device into their vehicles will be then eligible for a discount on their insurance. They say, '...the device constantly tracks car speed. By comparing that with a clock in the TripSense device, the device figures how far the car goes, mapping it against the time of day. At the end of each policy term, the customer would download the data and see what discount he or she would get. Customers can see all their data before deciding to send it to Progressive, and can decide not to send it -- and not get extra discounts.' I wonder how soon it will be that everyone has one except those resigned to paying extra as with grocery 'convenience' cards."

Comments

Re:Great Idea!

[rainman_bc]

Anyone else notice how cops are immune to DUI laws? We used to own a restaurant in Vancouver. When the cops came in, it was friggin' christmas for us. Fifty drunk cops acting like asses. Then when it came time to leave you'd get the response "I'm a cop, I don't lose my license if I get stopped at a road block; they just follow me home"

Friggin' crock of shit if you ask me.

Re:That would RULE

[sploo22]

And the word of the day is... INSURANCE FRAUD. Meaning 5 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if you get caught.

Re:Great Idea!

[kfg]

If you check out you state laws, you'll find that the local police, state highway patrol, etc. are exempt from the speed limit.

I checked out my state laws and found out that they aren't.

They are permited to exceed the limit when in hot pursuit or when calibrating their speedometers. At all other times they are as legally bound to the limit as you and I.

The same applies to right of way rules.

Running lights at 90 mph in order to be first in line at Dunkin Donuts is right out; and if they hurt anybody while doing so they are in deep, deep shit, because they have violated the law.

KFG

Boycott Progressive

[asv108]

The best way to deal with blatant violations of privacy by a large corporation is a strong negative consumer reaction.

1. If your a progressive customer call up your agent and complain, tell them you won't be doing any further business with the company.
2. If your not a progressive customer use their contact form and let them know what you think.

Re:No

[ekidder]

Indiana doesn't require you to have insurance. You can sign an affidavit stating that you can afford to pay for any accidents you're the cause of. Or something like that. I'm pretty sure you also need to supply some proof that you can afford it, too.

Re:No

[parkrrrr]

You need to supply proof in the form of a deposit of $40,000 for the first car and $20,000 for each additional car. See 140 IAC 1-7-3 (PDF format) for the gory details.

Most of us can't afford to tie up $40,000 cash just to avoid getting screwed by an insurance company.

Re:Ugh

[Chris Mattern]

Good for you. Countless studies prove you wrong, of course. Greater speed means more accidents and more deadly accidents as sure as night follows day. But people don't want to believe that, so they don't.

Chris Mattern

Re:do NOT do this, and do NOT support it

[acroyear]

not always.

speed limits along residential roads are partially set to protect children, but actually are more often set to control noise.

in Sterling, there's a 4-lane divided road through town, with service roads, meaning cars in the main road are 45+ feed away from the sidewalk that any kid might walk along... ...but the speed limit is still 35 (often exceeded during day time).

turns out the reason is not safety (the road in and of itself qualifies for a 45), but noise. cars and trucks driving a steady 35-40 are much quieter than vehicles accelerating to try to get back up to 55mph.

Re:No

[dasmegabyte]

Government mandated payment = tax.

No, a government mandated payment that goes to the GOVERNMENT is a tax. Your license and registration fees are taxes. Insurance is not a tax, it's quite different -- for one thing, you can't shop around for better rates on a tax or reduce your taxation by taking a ten hour "defensive citizenship class" Insurance is important -- it's a guarantee that if you drive your car like a weapon you'll be able to compensate your victims. In fact some states -- California comes to mind -- allow you to bypass insurance if you're willing to dedicate a certain amount of money to indemnify yourself. You can post a bond and even collect interest on it. Some other states allow super cut rate insurance on tiny cars and/or motorcycles where the chance of injuring others is low. Other states allow you to skip insurance on vehicles that are rarely used ("show" cars) and most will let you skip it if the vehicle is only driven on private roads.

You can also drive without insurance in some areas if you're renting the car -- at least, the rental company is not required to check proof of insurance before issuing the car/truck/hovercraft. But I wouldn't suggest it.