Impact of “Distracted Driving” on Auto Insurance Premiums

distracted driving / noun:

    the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a cellular phone or other electronic device.

“AAA now says that ‘distracted driving’ is a factor in 25% – 50% of all traffic accidents.” In 2014 this translated into 3,179 deaths and 431,000 injuries in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.  

Georgia currently does not have a law in place banning the use of hand held phones while driving, unlike those in effect for New York and California which prohibit all hand held device usage. Georgia does prohibit cell phones for novice drivers and bus drivers, and text messaging is against the law for ALL drivers in Georgia.  This laws may seem like common sense to most people, but given the above statistic and its validity, our existing efforts to curb distracted driving among Georgia drivers is falling short.  With 86% of the tech savvy youth aged 16 – 29 owning some sort of smart phone or cellular device, it doesn’t take an insurance industry expert to see the impact that the use of these devices, and as a result the distractions that they provide, will have on Atlanta auto insurance premiums.

Statistically, insurance companies have raised their auto insurance premiums by 11.7% over the last three years.  But with more drivers on the road and more of those drivers being focused on things other than driving, the average losses claimed on each auto insurance policy rose by 17.6% (PCI using SNL Financial).  The losses incurred are out pacing the premiums being earned to pay for those losses.  Unfortunately, the industry’s lack of balance in these statistics doesn’t seem to have any immediate relief or any effective  corrective measures in place to soothe consumers who are struggling with their higher auto insurance prices.