...everyone seems to have lost faith in the youth out here...I am not young, but many of my acquaintances are!!! Almost all of them are reponsible at work and EVERYONE I know is doubly responsible behind a wheel. I can attest, attending as many happy hours as I did.

Is my view of the world biased by the people I know? Mebbe. Does the fact that insurance companies rate youth as a higher risk swing public opinion? Appears to be......

I work in a profession closely related to insurance...and the only thing I really understand about the insurance industry, is that it always looks for ways to increase their profits!!!

Flame suit on!!

Please do not make any generelizations.......

A drunk driver is just that, a stupid, irresponsible person, behind 2 two tons of metal and hardly any control.......blame the driver and JUST the driver!!

 

I'm amazed it was a call not a visit from an officer/deputy/trooper and a Chaplin.

 

Great to see so much interest in not drinking and driving . . . also in the difficulty of being a responsible young driver.

One poster said something along the lines of knowing your drinking limit. I believe there is no limit, if you're drinking at all, don't drive. There is a catch-22 in knowing your limit, if you think you can drive while drinking your judgement is obviously impaired and you shouldn't be driving.

I think it is far safer for an 18 year old to drive a good handling car. Starting with a 1950 Chevy with a straight 6 didn't keep me from showing off and driving foolishly. It doesn't take a hot car to bring out that side of a kid. An enthusiast with a good car is far more likely to take driving classes and go to the track and get the reality feedback there.

Risk taking is a part of youth. I'm glad all my boys had an opportunity to do difficult mountain biking when pretty young. They have seemed to apply the lessons to driving. My youngest is learning now. On Wednesday I took him out to an isolated subdivision to learn how to drive in snow. He knew a lot about how to handle the ice (with great respect)from his experience biking. That made it easier for him to understand the details to practice (like don't brake and turn at the same time).

In reviewing a military winter driving training powerpoint I also came across some New Mexico accident statistics. Drinking was implicated in far fewer accidents than I have come to believe. Perhaps all the efforts to stop drunk driving has made us forget that driving still takes responsible attention and good decision making even when we haven't had anything to drink.

 

did that guy live ?

 

1. Absolutely not. My wife has worked in the industry for years. Insurance is nothing more than risk mitigation. You look at the past history, determine the risks, assign a value
2. Now there you got something. Ever wonder why insurance companies own so many large buildings (real estate)? Because they are not allowed to buy common stock years ago. If they did, they would own everything.

sad but true. I think she was called at the office.

 

I saw a DUI check point last night near my house. I think that they should have more of those.

 

And that's exactly why they are so heavily invested in casinos (bought them from the mob ages ago). It's perfect for them because who understands risk and odds more than an insurance company?

 

As a former Law Enforcement Officer i can say with no hesitation that the two are a bad combination. I have seen first hand what can happen & Believe me it is not pretty. So when i Arrested someone for DWI i always felt i may have saved them & others from Harm.

2003MC, PW/B,CVT. DSC, Premium Pkg,After Mkt Spoiler

 

Got that flame suit buttoned and zipped ?

Just putting that suit on tells me you realized how wrong your statement was before you even hit the "submit reply" button.

I've been in the auto insurance industry for five years, two years as an Underwriter and 3 years as an Underwriting Manager. I doubt there's not too many people on this board who know more about car insurance than I. Anyone who has similar or higher credentials should feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Age-based rates are not discriminatory. They are based on decades of data to determine a particular group's propensity to be involved in an accident. In the case of youthful drivers, the data clearly indicates they are the group at highest risk. I'm sure most people don't need statistics to know this to be true. But as a responsible industry, we collect that data, analyze that data, and present it to State regulatory offices who must approve of it in order for us (Insurance Companies) to charge a group a higher rate than the average.

If it is your belief that anyone can be DWI/DUI and that anyone can have an accident, regardless of age, you are correct... of course. However, if you are saying that a 50-year old is just as likely to be involved in an accident as an 18-year old, you are dead wrong.

And by the way, insurance company profits are in line with most major corporations in our country. We have years where we make a tidy profit and we have years where we lose more money than you can imagine (think Hurricane Katrina).

 

I am 18 and drive just a cooper, and can understand why someone wouldnt want a kid my age haveing and MCS, but then again many people my age I feel are responsible enough to drive one, but one bad egg ruins it for all of us. I would like to have an S, but the way I look at it, I have the rest of my life to get one, and I have a d**n nice car now

 

Didn't I just say that by saying

Insurance is nothing more than risk mitigation. You look at the past history, determine the risks, assign a value?

As to profits ... The key to your sentence, your talking the last few years. Yes, lots of disasters, no doubt. Then again, just look at the articles about rates going up and the fact this year, 2006, was a good year for the insurance companies.

The fact is, the insurance industry is VERY good at what it does. If it wasn't, they would all be out of business. So where does the excess profits go? To real estate.

Any couple of years can hurt, no doubt, but you got to look at the big picture over all the years to analyze the industry

BTW, I am not saying its bad to make profit ... its the American Way

 

Agreed. You can't start out with something very expensive. There's just too much at stake even if you are a responsible driver. When I first started driving, my parents purchased a Honda Insight and I was carpooling with my mom to school. Driving that for a couple years (and learning to get great mileage in the process) taught me about driving defensively and not really caring about speed. Now that I have the MCS, I still don't drive very aggressively. I'm not sure it would be the same if I got a MINI to begin with.

 

Don't Drink and Drive ... THIS COULD BE YOU!

 

Geez, Chows, seems you think the Insurance Industry is making Oil Company type profits. I assure you, they are not. And that's true whether you are looking at a 3-year, 5-year, or 20-year history. And even if you've had five great years of profits consecutively, it can all be wiped out by one bad DAY of a natural disaster... and often is.

Don't get me wrong, Insurance Companies are not going broke. If they were, there wouldn't be any, of course. But please, don't perpetuate the incorrect stereotypes of the Insurance Industry.

People have this idea that Insurance Companies are taking money for nothing and that Insurance Companies "owe me". That's one reason why Insurance Fraud is so rampant in our country.

 

Oh, I'm not saying the owe anyone anything. They provide a service. Nothing wrong with profits.

I was talking about the limits placed on the industry years ago.

When I was in grad school in a business class, a case study was the insurance industry while studying common stocks. It was plainly stated that insurance companies were not allowed to buy common stock with their profits.

Why? because they would continue to invest in them and after years ... 30, 40, 50 ... they would own every company.

And that is why they are so heavily invested in real estate. Lots of large buildings in prime city, expensive real-estate areas

I am not saying they are rolling in money today ... just the overall trend.

 

For twenty years the pharmaceutical industry was by far the most profitable industry in the United States, but it has recently been passed by Big Oil and "International Finance," which includes banks, investment management companies and insurance companies.

Those are historically the three industries that return the highest profits on their investments, and consistently so. They're rolling in money alright, because they know the only way to gamble is to be the house...

 

I think these are a better example.

 

Hey, Nick Nolte is wearing an aloha shirt! Yikes.
Was he out partying in Hawaii?

Headlines-
Actor Nick Nolte was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on September 11, 2002 and charged with driving under the influence.

OK, he wasn't in Hawaii. He just looks "Hawaiian". Sort of.
Well, maybe not. More like the Professor on Back to the Future.

 

My ? is how old is all of this data. Over the past 10 years I only know of friend/family member that has been in an accident but I know of at least 4-5 girls that have been in accidents. When I was in HS (Graduated in 97) no of my class mates that where guys did severe damage to any cars, the worst was a small bumper bender. On the flip side at least a 1/2 of the girls that I know where involved in bad if not serious accidents, some of them multiple times. When we asked why me being on my parents insurance raised it so much more than friends the response was "Because you have a teenage son instead of a teenage daughter". Doesn't seem right to me.

 

Late reply I know but was out the last few days.

Unfortunately not to many people seem to drive defensively, at least in the Northern VA area. I'm the type that I am constantly checking my mirrors and also watching what the other drivers are doing. Even if it's in the middle of the night and there is only a couple of cars on the road, I am watching what they are doing. I know that just in the year and a half that we've had the MINI I have personally avoided at least 20 accidents, anywhere from avoiding someone hitting me in the rear by ME getting out of the way or by nearly being ran off the road because someone not paying attention to the road (happens a lot here). My even has even avoided 3 or accidents in the MINI and she only started driving earlier this year and I credit that to me preaching to her that she HAS TO pay attention to what others are doing.

Also to the point about drivers ed. To me that needs to be something that they need to crack down on. When I took it in NC it was done through a private driving school and the county schools paid the cost since we didn't have it available in school. They still didn't seem to teach us very much though and they sure didn't teach us anything about defensive driving, avoiding spinouts, hydroplaining, ect.. The only reason that I was tought this stuff is because my dad impressed in into my head AFTER I took drivers ed. Even worse is when I talk to my wife's family and the drivers ed sounds like it is even worse up here in Northern VA.

 

... is lacking. I started the Drivers Education thread awhile ago Wilson, people drive like they are on their sofa at home.

 

You shouldn't drink and drive cause you might spill your drink. Great quote by NoFx.



quote=ChrisW;1282376]That poor MINI

and remember if your going to drive don't drink you could spill your beer.[/quote]

 

Hope you had a good holiday.

Anyone that knows me hardly considers my driving "defensive" but they also learn very quickly after riding in the car with me that I am aware of EVERYTHING around me, I tend to avoid 2 or more accidents as a result of that each day. Sometimes I even make a game of guessing if a driver is on a phone, drunk doing make-up or eating just on when and how they weave:impatient.

Drivers around here absolutely SUCK and they don't care about anything around them.

I've taught myself much of (if not all) of my awareness techniques, reading road racing instructions helps with awarness and car control.

 

Individuals look at ancedotal data ... its means nothing. Its like ...

"I've driven 40 years and never had a flat" ... meanwhile the next guy has 3 flats in a week.

You got to look at the big picture and the big picture is not favourable to youth. Even if you have a perfect driving records ... the odds are with you and its all about risk management.

 

I have three words to explain this to you:

SMALL
SAMPLE
SIZE

Compare your database (even if you knew a thousand people with teenagers) to a huge insurance company and you'll find your data compared to ours is like comparing Rhode Island to the Milky Way Galaxy.

The data is out there if you want to surf the internet. Young male drivers are more likely to be involved in an at-fault accident than any other demographic group. Young female drivers are next in line. The elderly represent the next highest at-risk group.