Allstate Insurance Company Releases Its 10th Annual ‘America’s Best Drivers Report’

Allstate Insurance Company Releases Its 10th Annual ‘America’s Best Drivers Report’

Allstate Insurance Company Releases Its 10th Annual ‘America’s Best Drivers Report’

Allstate Insurance Company recently released its 10th annual "America's Best Drivers Report." Among America's smaller cities, Pittsburgh ranked dead last in terms of car crash frequency. A "smaller city" was determined to have a population of 250,000-499,999 people. According to the report, the average driver in Pittsburgh will experience a crash every 6.6 years and is 51.3 percent more likely to crash than the average American. "We don't want drivers in Pittsburgh to be discouraged by their ranking. Instead, we want the report to challenge drivers in Pittsburgh to make positive changes to their driving," said Blair Bogdan, Pittsburgh-area Allstate agent. "Our goal with this report is to make the cities that fall on the bottom of the list safer places to live and raise families." It is nice that Allstate wants the report to challenge drivers to make positive changes to their driving, but the commentary is silent as to what the automobile insurance companies, and the companies they insure, are doing, if anything, to decrease the frequency of car crashes. Are these companies implementing and/or incentivizing the implementation of driver safety programs? Have they determined that the cost of establishing such programs outweigh the potential benefit? What can Pennsylvania residents do to provide the insurance companies and their associated insured companies with incentive to spend the money necessary to establish driver safety programs? To start, they can position themselves to hold these companies accountable for the pain and suffering they suffer at the hands of their careless or reckless drivers. A Pennsylvania resident CANNOT do this if they choose the "Limited Tort" option on their motor vehicle liability insurance policy. If they choose the limited tort option, they can sue for "economic" damages such as payment of medical bills and lost wages, but if they are not "seriously injured," they cannot be compensated for "non-economic" damages, i.e. pain, suffering, embarrassment, humiliation, inconvenience and/or loss of life's pleasures. "Serious injury" is defined as "death, significant deformity or impairment of body function." To be able to sue for all damages available under Pennsylvania law, one must choose the "Full Tort" option, which may slightly increase the premium. Without the risk of having to compensate victims of careless drivers, there is no monetary incentive for these companies to make the roads safer. Without accountability for damages, wrecks are bound to increase.