A Busy Time for Us and Auto Accidents

Things have been moving at a rapid pace here at our office. When asked how our new year has started, my immediate response has been 'BUSY!'. Aside from our normal activities of helping our customers with their new home and auto insurance, a great deal of our time has been spent with auto accidents.

To give you an idea of the volume of auto accidents we have handled: within the first two weeks of 2017, our agency saw a 240% increase of auto accidents compared the same time last year! Out of these accidents, 60% were not our customer’s fault. The truly concerning statistic is that 30% of our not-at-fault customers were hit by drivers who had no insurance! Drivers who do not carry collision coverage end up being responsible for the entire repair bill when hit by an uninsured driver so this creates a major frustration for us and our customers. Thankfully, none of the accidents were life threatening but they all could have been avoided.

What was the primary cause of these accidents? The culprit was distracted driving in every single claim. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fewer people are talking on their phone and driving at the same time. That's good news but unfortunately more people are now texting and browsing the Internet behind the wheel*.

The best we can all do as drivers to safeguard ourselves from uninsured and distracted drivers is to be attentive and defensive on the road. Accidents still happen and when they do we'll be here.

*National Highway Traffic Safety Administration