Does a Safer Car Mean Lower Insurance Premiums?

Auto manufacturers are always looking for ways to make their vehicles safer, and they use the latest technology to lower the risk and consequences of an accident. Some insurance providers have taken note of these developments and may offer lower premiums as a result. But does a safer car automatically mean lower insurance premiums? And how do some of these features help reduce risk? Keep reading to find out. Can You Get Lower Insurance Premiums by Driving a Safer Car? Yes, many insurance providers will give you a discount if you drive a car fitted with certain safety features. However, these rates will vary depending on the provider and your vehicle type. What Do the Facts Say About Collision Avoidance Systems and Safe Driving? Insurance companies have a good reason for offering discounts, as these safety features make a difference. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a forward collision warning system can help reduce the number of front-to-rear crashes by 27%. Lane departure warnings may help to lower the prevalence of single-vehicle, sideswipe, and head-on crashes by 11%. How Does Collision Mitigation Technology Reduce the Risk of a Fatal Accident? Some collision mitigation techniques can reduce your risk of…

Driving With Alphabet Soup—Hungry for More?

Have you ever been driving down the road and something caught your eye? Say, like an interesting building that looked like it should’ve been right out of scene from the movie Dune? Or a vintage 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California SWB Spider worth $17.5MM stalled on the side of the road, which caused you to partially draft into another lane?  Which caused the driver next to you to honk aggressively, startling you back into the center of your lane, nearly missing a serious accident?   Well for most of us who had the pleasure of spending a coveted all day Saturday court ordered traffic school, you learned about “target fixation”.  This is when the driver comes focused on one thing that is usually distracting and dangerous.  In traffic school, you learned skillful vision techniques that required you to always scan your environment directly in front of you and plan an escape route just in case you need to avoid an accident.  This technique will go a long way in preventing target fixation from ever occurring.  Guess what? You are human, and you sometimes make mistakes.  So, how do you account for those moments when you are human and not paying…

How to Implement Autonomous Driving in a Safe Way

Over the past few years, autonomous vehicle technology has made a promising development in the automotive industry. As a result, the global autonomous vehicle market will be worth a projected US$325.9 billion by just 2030. Although autonomous driving is an exciting technology, drivers must ensure safe implementation by following these guidelines. 1. Pay Attention to the Road, Even When the Car Is Driving Itself When you’re in the driver’s seat of an autonomous vehicle, you must remain attentive. It only takes a few seconds to lose focus on what’s happening in front of you. Keep your eyes on the road at all times, and make sure your hands remain firmly on the steering wheel so you’re ready to take over in a split second if required. 2. Stay Within the Speed Limit Autonomous driving cars don’t always know every road’s speed limit, so you still need to ensure the car doesn’t exceed the speed limit. You should also use your own judgment and slow down in bad weather, such as rain, fog, or snow. During these conditions, your vehicle’s reaction time may be slower than normal. 3. Understand What to Do in an Emergency If an emergency does occur while in autonomous…

Trust Your Eyes… Not Your Map

It happens in Minnesota. It happens in the maze-like city blocks of Manhattan. It happens in the deserts of Southern California, and the frozen wastes of Russia, and the mountains of Colorado. It happens everywhere, because we use it everywhere… perhaps, more than we should. I’m talking about instances where your GPS leads you astray. Sometimes by taking you up a road that no longer exists, sometimes by thinking you’re on the freeway instead of the city streets, and sometimes by sending you into the middle of nowhere. At best, these incidents are inconvenient. At their worst, they cause “death by GPS.”  There is a common misconception that these issues are completely due to user error. Occasionally, people point to the responsibility of the map-maker—these days, that’s usually Google. But rarely is it acknowledged that these incidents are a part of a wider group of human error that, while natural, should be monitored and corrected!  Here, we delve into human-GPS error not in the context of specific stories, but as a wider phenomenon. We’ll explore the various kinds of human-GPS errors that are most common, and explain why they occur. Finally, we’ll make an argument for why and how to…

Why (And How) to be Nice to Cyclists

For many drivers—particularly in the US—bicyclists are seen as a nuisance. They take up valuable space on the road, slow down traffic, and seem out of place in our automobile-focused landscape. Some even want to remove bicyclists from roadways altogether, and relegate them to the realm of athletics and children’s playgrounds. But this is short-sighted. Disdain for bicyclists comes from a few select places—none of which have a deep connection to the reality of the situation. The incredibly minor inconvenience of making space for a bicyclist, and the odd mentality that they’re somehow being “uppity” are both petty and stupid reasons to dislike bicyclists. And while jokes about bicyclists do make for good comedy, the fact is that we, as drivers, need to start making room for them. There are several good reasons to do so, too. Some are based mostly in ethics, while others appeal to a degree of self-interested practicality. A few drift into both.  We hope to convince you to rethink your disdain for bicyclists. Below, we’ve compiled a few good reasons to be nice to bicyclists… and some actionable ways to do exactly that. To start with, let’s help you with a common misconception. More Bicyclists…

What To Do After An Accident

So, you just got into an accident. For starters, don’t panic. I know that’s about as helpful as saying “don’t be depressed,” but listen for a moment. Take a long, slow breath. It’s okay if it takes a while to slow down enough. Focus on the feeling of your breath as you breathe in, long and slow. Breathe out, focusing on how it feels against your nostrils. Rub your forearms and hands, focusing on the physical sensation of your body being there, and being present. Hopefully, this has helped you to calm down and think for a little bit. Getting into an accident can be a rough ordeal. While a fender-bender can merely be an unpleasant interruption to your day, more serious crashes can put a hamper on your whole month.  To that end, we’ve compiled a few tips for anyone who finds themselves in that situation. Please note that none of these suggestions are legal or medical advice. Everyone’s situation is different, and it would be impossible for a generalized article to give you useful medical or legal advice. Instead, we want to give you some general tips for ways to make sure your accident is as easily handled…