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As Super Bowl XLV approaches, drivers and fans alike should avoid combining drinking and driving. A study just released by the University of Minnesota found that 40 percent of individuals had alcohol in their body, and 8 percent were above the legal limit. To boot, authorities in the states from where each Super Bowl team is based are warning of stricter enforcement during the weekend.

The Study

Approaching attendees at 13 MLB baseball games and 3 NFL games, almost 400 people agreed to take a Breathalyzer test for the survey. Just over half were men and as many were between the ages of 21 and 35.

Some of the main links with higher alcohol intake were:

• being under age 35
• tailgating before the game.

Although 8 percent may not seem like a lot, NFL stadiums can hold between 61,000 and 91,000 people. Cowboys Stadium, the location for Super Bowl XLV, can be specially fitted to hold up to 110,000 people, which means thousands of potential drunk drivers on busy roads after a game, and tens of thousands impaired motorists.

Concerns Around the Country

The increase in drunk drivers on Super Bowl Sunday has been a concern for authorities for many years, but increased data makes post-sporting event intoxication ever more worrisome.

Pennsylvania, the home state of Super Bowl team the Pittsburgh Steelers, saw 246 car accidents during Super Bowl 2010, despite the team not even playing in the NFL’s highly-anticipated climactic post-season game.

Wisconsin, where the rival Green Bay Packers reside, was ranked 37th highest in traffic fatalities by the US census bureau, but those numbers are bound to increase in America’s brewery heartland.

The two cities linked to the Super Bowl won’t be the only ones taking extra precautions though. As a default US holiday, Americans from across the country will likely be celebrating the championship. Super Bowl Sunday fatalities are 41 percent higher than the average Sunday.

In Las Vegas and other major cities, police are planning to set up “sobriety checkpoints” at busy intersection known as higher-than-average drunk driving areas.

Safe Driving Tips

If you’re attending a Super Bowl party or event, be sure to designate a driver beforehand. This will be much more effective than choosing a driver during the game, when people will likely already be consuming alcohol. To show your thanks to the designated driver, consider giving them the best seat to watch the game or keeping their non-alcoholic drinks filled at all times.

Make sure that their vehicle is easy to access and can easily leave the area.

Whether or not you are planning on attending a Super Bowl event, exercise caution when driving on all big game days, and, if possible, avoid the roads altogether Read the rest of this entry »

New York, Florida, California, Arizona, and all over the US today, you can see headlines about car theft and insurance fraud. It’s no coincidence-it’s the same every day. Insurance fraud has become so common with this poor economy with such high unemployment rates, the costs have actually just been passed on to policyholders in the form of premium increases.

Economic Downturns Drives Prices Up

Month to month, year to year, the price of insuring your automobile has been increasing since 2007. December 2010 saw the first decrease in month to month insurance rates, but it was less than a 1% difference, and was dwarfed by the big increase from November. The most optimistic estimates of economic growth show very little growth indeed, which aligns with the news from industry experts that insurance prices will probably increase another 20% in 2011 for most drivers.

Experts have proposed three reasons for the unnatural rise in insurance rates:

1. Increased stress causing poorer driving
2. More uninsured and underinsured drivers push costs unfairly onto insured motorists
3. Increased fraud and insurance scams forcing consumers to compensate for losses with premium hikes

Sociological evidence does suggest that people in a recession are more stressed, distracted, and reckless on the roads.

The logic behind the second idea is that insurance companies often lose money when an uninsured or underinsured motorist is involved in a collision with one of their policyholders. Rather than simply absorbing the costs, many insurance companies tend to increase premiums nationwide, spreading out the financial burden across their policyholders. In the short-term, this increase seems tiny, but month after month they begin to compound.
The third proposal might actually have the biggest impact.

Fraud Skyrockets during Downturn

Cases of fraud prosecutions have exploded over the last two years. There are new cases being reported in the news daily, but that does not mean that many others are not getting away with defrauding the insurance companies.

The costs of fraud are also spread out to policyholders in the form of premium increases.
However, arrests do seem to be coming at a higher rate than before. Law enforcement has been enacting new measures to catch scammers that include paying cash rewards to citizens who spill the beans on insurance criminals.

In Florida, at least, the Anti-Fraud Reward Program appears to be working wonders. If a citizen provides the police with information that helps catch the criminal, that citizen could receive a reward of up to $25-thousand.

Organized Crime Operations

The type of fraud that’s driving prices up is not one person reporting that their windshield was broken during the night when truly they hit it with a baseball. The frauds making an impact are large, organized crime operations.

Criminal may pay citizens to buy a car, then they steal it, ship it overseas for re-sale, and collect the car insurance money for theft.
They could also hide the vehicle in a garage until the claim comes in, then sell the vehicle on the black market. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know what to do if you are in an auto accident? The decisions you make at this crucial time could save you thousands of dollars, and your life.

Do you know what to do if you are in an auto accident? The decisions you make at this crucial time could save you thousands of dollars, and your life.

Be Prepared Ahead of Time

Make sure you have all necessary information and tools available to alert emergency personnel and document damage in the event of an accident. If you have any specific medical needs, keep a sheet with the information in the glove compartment. Also keep a notepad, pen, first aid kit, seat-belt cutter, and a disposable camera in your car to take down information from others and document crash damage. Of course, you should always have your driver’s license, vehicle registration, and coverage information.

Immediately Following the Accident

Safety first – Immediately check yourself, and then others in your vehicle, for injuries. If you suspect a head or neck injury, do not move the victim. Rather, try to stabilize the head to keep it in place. Moving someone with a head or neck injury can cause permanent damage and even death.

Put pressure on wounds with severe bleeding by using clothing or towels.

If in doubt, always call an ambulance to make sure all potential injuries are treated. Always call the police to file a police report, which is very important when filing insurance claims.

Once everyone is safe

If it is safe to do so, immediately begin collecting contact information from the other parties as well as witnesses. Exchange driver’s license number, vehicle registration number, and coverage information with the other driver, noting any differences between the name on the license and the name on the insurance or registration. This is vitally important.

Document damage to the vehicles as soon as possible, preferably by taking photos. It is also helpful to take photos of the scene, noting the relationship between vehicles, the road, vehicle debris, etc.

Move cars to the side of the road if you can, as this will be safer for you and other drivers.

Refrain from leaving the scene before the police. Contact your insurance company immediately. Some insurance companies require you to file a claim within 24 hours of an incident. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s titles to articles that really get people annoyed. It would probably be OK to say Mercedes-Benz make better cars than BMW. Somehow, it’s acceptable to compare the strengths and weaknesses of brands. But once we get into the area of individual skills, passions are involved. There would be hours of argument on whether Dario Franchitti is a better driver than A.J. Foyt. Most adults know how to drive and, as fans of Indy heroes, they will appreciate an everyday skill raised to the highest level. All this is safe territory. No one feels threatened by talk of the best, particularly when one is now retired. But start talking about whether you or your partner is the better driver, and egos are on the line – tempers are likely to get frayed very quickly. We are all proud of what we do. That’s a part of what gives us the confidence to keep doing it. Accusing A of not being as good a driver as B is entering a potential war zone.

Yet, if you go to the people who collect evidence about traffic accidents – that’s a range of people from the ambulances that carry drivers to hospitals, to the police and courts who decide whether anyone should go to jail, to the insurers who have to pick up some of the bills – they will all tell you the same story. Ambulances carry fewer women drivers. They are less likely to be injured because they drive more slowly than men. Women are less likely to break the law than men and so pick up fewer tickets and rarely commit offenses serious enough to justify jail time. Insurers prefer women drivers because they are rarely in serious accidents as drivers. They are injured seriously as often as men because, in most cases, they are being driven by men who ignore the basics of safe driving. Read the rest of this entry »