Car insurance companies are often well aware of trends that are occurring that may affect their risk exposure, and texting while driving is proving to be quite a deadly combination. With over 160 million cell phone users in the United States alone, the potential to be involved in an accident with a distracted driver is incredibly high. In fact, it is so high that car insurance providers are struggling to develop a plan that will help protect them from an onslaught of accident claims.
Many car insurance companies have determined that one of the most important ways to combat distracted driving is to support the efforts of various law enforcement agencies. Legislators are rushing to create laws against texting while driving, and most car insurance providers think that it simply cannot come soon enough. Recent studies by the Department of Transportation suggest that as any as 2600 deaths and 330,000 injuries have been the result of cell phone using drivers. These staggering numbers are quite concerning and action is needed as soon as possible.
Some car insurance companies have begun advertising campaigns that strongly discourage the use of cell phones while driving, but there really is no way to tell if the effort is accomplishing anything. Few customers realize that the ever increasing number of accidents is only going to cause insurance companies to pay for more costly claims. Higher risk for car insurance companies almost always means higher rates and premiums for consumers.
Although the most troubling side effect of a strong incidence of texting while driving incidence is the injuries and deaths caused, the fact that many people are going to be facing much higher car insurance costs is fairly negative as well. In other words, any efforts to reduce or eliminate cell phone distractions will actually help decrease the cost of car insurance.
