Drowsy Driving — Dangerous & Brings Huge Insurance Problems

Here’s a frightening statistic courtesy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It found that 10% of all drivers admit to falling asleep behind the wheel at least once a year.

Just once? How comforting.

The NHTSA says drowsy driving costs 1,550 deaths a year. Combine that with 71,000 injuries and losses hitting $12.5 billion a year, and it’s a super serious problem.

A CarInsurance.com report says anyone getting caught nodding off, whether its lack of sleep from too many hours at work, or too many hours driving, or medical conditions, or whatever the issue, your insurer isn’t going to be happy and it’s going to cost you more to keep that insurance.

Or, as the firm’s executive editor, Laura Longero says, to find other insurance.

“When you drive drowsy, you put yourself and others at risk, leading to tragic consequences, higher insurance costs and even reckless driving charges,” she said.

Most drowsy driving tickets are class B misdemeanors and have a fine up to $1,000. Get one of those and the rate hike could hit be 73% — or higher. All of that depends on where you live.

In the PIA Western Alliance state of California your insurance rate increase could be as high as 177%. “Insurance premiums often rise significantly following at-fault crashes or citations, including those involving drowsy driving,” Longero added.

She said some insurers will drop a driver completely if they get a driving drowsy ticket. They usually can’t do it mid-policy, but they can non-renew.

Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/3VblgVZ