Posted on Tue, Mar 30, 2010
Three days of Sunshine in early April and motorcycles owners are rushing to get their motorcycles registered and insured. There is a tendency for people to focus on getting things done fast at a low price and this can be a big mistake. You can get injured just as bad riding a 10 year old motorcycle worth $1,000 as you can riding a $25,000 Harley and you can do as much damage to other people as well. Taking 15-30 minutes to make educated decisions on coverage and coverage limits makes sense. If you could collect $80,000 instead of $20,000 after you are hit by an underinsured driver, would that be worth paying $50 more today. Does that make sense for you? It may or it may not but take the time to understand the options.
Here is some information to help get you started but keep in mind that it is not intended to make you an insurance guru. Let your licensed insurance agent help you work out the final coverage details.
Bodily Injury Coverage - Pays for bodily injury to others if you are at fault in an accident and someone is injured. This coverage can be extended to provide coverage for your passengers. It also protects what you own, and it makes sense to buy high limits, if you have assets to protect. An accident with a car may not result in a lot of bodily injury however an accident with another motorcycle or a pedestrian can result in significant injury.
Property Damage Coverage - Pays for damage to other property resulting from an accident in which you were at fault. This could be damage to another bike, to a car or a structure like a fence or a home.
Medical Payments - Pays for injuries to you that result from an accident and it does not matter who is at fault. If you have health insurance, a small limit can be useful to cover co-payments and deductibles on your health insurance policy. If you do not have health insurance, you should purchase as much as you can afford.
Collision - Pays to repair or replace your motorcycle in the event of an accident, regardless of who is at fault. This coverage is usually required if you have a loan and most lending institutions require a $500 deductible. The deductible is the amount you would be responsible for in the event of an accident. Higher deductibles can save you money.
Comprehensive - Pays for theft of your bike and for damage from anything other than a collision. Examples include vandalism, falling objects, fire, storms and flood. Deductibles apply here too.
Uninsured/ Underinsured Motorist. - These coverages can be looked at as a form of disability insurance and they pay when the person at fault in the accident does not have insurance or if they have do not have enough insurance to pay for the costs related to your injuries, such as medical costs, lost wages and pain/suffering. Having the right coverage limits can make a dramatic difference if you are injured in an accident and it does not have to cost a lot!
Towing and Labor or Roadside Assistance - Pays to fix your bike on the road (flat tires, small mechanical repairs) if you breakdown and also pays if the bike needs to be transported to a repair facility following a mechanical break down or an accident.
One More Piece of Information Many Massachusetts insurance companies will now let you add your motorcycle to your existing auto policy. This helps keep things simple with one bill, one finance charge, etc. and it also means you don't need to complete a new application every spring if you are someone who likes to cancel the coverage over the winter months.
Posted on Tue, Mar 30, 2010
According to the Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service, the forecast height of the Blackstone River in Northbridge is 13.8 feet which would make it the second highest crest on record in Northbridge. At 13.0 feet one can expect....
13.0- THIS IS A SERIOUS FLOOD EVENT. FLOODING WILL SPREAD INTO RESIDENCES ALONG THE RIVER ON MAIN STREET. FLOODING WILL AFFECT LOW LYING AREAS FROM NORTHBRIDGE TO MILLVILLE. BUISNESSES ALONG THE RIVER SHOULD TAKE THE NECESSARY ACTIONS TO PROTECT PROPERTY ALONG THE RIVER.
Please see the Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service for additional information.
Posted on Mon, Mar 22, 2010
By Patricia B. Gray, Money Magazine contributing writer
If you or your parents need medical care, consider bringing the services of a hospital to your home.
You may think of private nurses as a luxury for the ultra-rich, like a butler or personal chauffeur. But hiring in-house medical care has become an increasingly viable option for regular folks too.
You can use a nurse to ease the transition from hospital to home after surgery or a major illness, or even to administer chemotherapy if you want to stay out of a clinic or hospital. Visits from a private nurse can help your elderly parent remain in his or her own house safely.
Care at home can be a less expensive option than an extended stay in a nursing facility, says Kathleen Kelly, executive director of the Family Caregiver Alliance, a San Francisco nonprofit. Still, the cost can add up quickly, and you may have to cover most of it yourself. So it pays to know whether you need a nurse and how to pick one.
Know who is footing the bill
If you're under 65, chances are you're on your own; for the most part, group health insurance offers little if any coverage for private nursing care. If you are tending to an elderly relative, you will get help from Medicare, which generally pays for up to eight hours a day or 24 hours a week of care within a 60-day period.
Your relative's long-term-care insurance may also provide some coverage, usually $150 to $200 a day (which buys two to four hours of nursing care or about 10 hours of an aide's time). Review the policy before you bring someone onboard.
Make sure a nurse is necessary
You'll pay three times as much for a nurse as for an aide (see table), so consider what care you need. If you're recovering at home from major surgery, you will likely need the services of a registered nurse (R.N.), who can do everything that a nurse in a hospital might do, from monitoring vital signs such as pulse and blood pressure to dressing wounds and setting up an intravenous catheter for drug treatments.
Plus, an R.N. will be able to alert you to complications in your condition. "An experienced nurse has almost a sixth sense for trouble," says Mary Jean Schumann, director of policy and practice for the American Nurses Association.
If your situation is more practical than medical - you need help eating or dressing because you're woozy or weak, for example - a health aide, who may have little formal training, should suffice. The most cost-effective strategy may be to combine the two options; if, say, you're recovering from surgery, have a nurse visit for an hour or two a day to change bandages and administer medications, but let an aide provide around-the-clock care.
Tally the cost
According to a 2007 MetLife survey, agencies charge $13 to $24 an hour for a home health aide, depending on where you live. A registered nurse will cost about three times that much, or $40 to $90 an hour. For agency recommendations, ask another nurse at your hospital or a discharge planner, and find out whether the agency monitors its workers' performance and covers liability insurance and workers' compensation.
You can lower the bill by about a third by hiring - and screening -candidates yourself, but if you hire an aide on your own and she throws out her back while helping Grandpa into the bath, you could end up paying for her medical bills. Even if you can take the risk, you'll almost certainly want to use an agency if the patient is too sick or old to voice any complaints about a caregiver or the quality of care, says Schumann.
Posted on Mon, Mar 22, 2010
From: Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents
The Board of Fire Prevention Regulations has approved an emergency amendment to 527 CMR 32 Approved Smoke Detectors. This regulation applies to residential units undergoing sale or transfer of buildings containing up to five residential units. The regulation, which was scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2010, has been moved to April 5, 2010.
The regulation requires photoelectric smoke detectors within 20 feet of a kitchen or bath containing a shower. Areas located beyond 20 feet will be required to contain dual detection by either a single unit or two separate units.
In addition to the date change the regulation has been clarified to indicate it applies to residential units constructed prior to January 1975 that have not undergone major alteration covered by the State Building Code. It also contains a provision for low voltage household warning systems that may have been installed in these homes.
The Division of Fire Safety (formerly the Office of the State Fire Marshall) offers a brochure press release which explain the new regulation: "A Guide to the Massachusetts Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Requirements When Selling a One- or Two-Family Residence" and a press release "Revised Smoke Alarm Regulations." The Division of Fire Safety also notes that your local fire department may be able to provide detailed guidance regarding compliance with the new regulation.
Posted on Thu, Mar 18, 2010
Today's miracle can be tomorrow's nightmare. Some breakthrough medicines are later found to have dangerous side effects unknown at the time. Long-established land and water management practices sometimes later prove unwise. In recent headlines, sophisticated computers which improve gas mileage, assist in braking and other vital functions in automobiles, are under scrutiny for possibly causing acceleration, braking or other problems.
For many years, paint manufacturers found that adding lead to their paints would increase drying speed and durability, provide an effective barrier to moisture, and give the painted surface a freshly-painted look for a long time. However, it was later discovered that lead was very harmful to humans, and even the lead in paints could cause many serious health problems if ingested or inhaled, even in relatively small amounts. Therefore, the federal government banned lead-based paint from housing in 1978.
As prudent as that seemed to be, the ban did not totally eliminate the lead hazard inherent in paint. Houses built before the 1978 ban were found to still pose a lead risk when the lead-based painted surfaces where disturbed in some way, such as sanding prior to repainting, or when other repair and renovation work was done.
Over the years, there have been numerous recommendations, rules and guidelines which attempted to effectively deal with the problem of existing lead paint in homes and other structures. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has usually played a key role in lead paint mitigation efforts. On April 22, 2010, an enhanced lead paint rule will take effect, which will directly impact renovation and repair contractors.
The EPA had produced a detailed 31-page booklet which outlines the scope of the new rule, including who must comply, what the certification requirements are for contractors, what types of structures are within the rule, and the guidelines for the required distribution of an EPA information pamphlet to consumers, when renovation or repair work is being done by a contractor, etc. The EPA booklet is titled: "Small Entity Compliance Guide to Renovate Right - EPA's Lead-Based Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Program" (document #: EPA-740-F-08-003 - December 2008). The EPA shorthand title for the rule is the "RRP Rule" (Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule). The booklet is available from the EPA's web site:
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/sbcomplianceguide.pdf
Here are some key points. Excerpts from the EPA booklet are italicized below.
What types of structures and facilities does the lead paint rule apply to?
The RRP Rule applies to "residential houses, apartments, and child-occupied facilities such as schools and day-care facilities built before 1978." In addition, the rule must be followed when "repair or maintenance activities disturb more than 6 square feet of paint per room inside, or more than 20 square feet on the exterior of a home or building."
Who must follow the rule?
According to the EPA booklet, the rule applies as follows: "In general, anyone who is paid to perform work that disturbs paint in housing and child-occupied facilities built before 1978, including but not limited to: residential rental property owners/managers; general contractors; special trade contractors including painters, plumbers, carpenters and electricians." As to landlords and property managers, the EPA booklet says, "The receipt of rent payments or salaries derived from rent payments is considered compensation under the EPA's lead paint rule. Therefore, renovation activities performed by landlords or employees of landlords are covered [by the rule]."
The EPA booklet outlines activities which are excluded from the rule, such as "minor repair or maintenance." However, the booklet specifically states that "window replacement" is not minor repair or maintenance.
What steps are required for a repair/renovation contractor to comply with the rule?
First, the firm must be certified by the EPA to work on pre-1978 homes and other buildings. Obtain an "Application for Firms" from the EPA: www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm
Second, a "certified renovator" must be assigned to each renovation project, and "must be available, either on-site or by telephone, at all times renovations are being conducted." This person must have completed an 8-hour course approved by the EPA. A full list of providers is listed at: http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/traincert.htm
In addition, the EPA pamphlet "Renovate Right: Important Lead Hazard Information for Families, Child Care Providers and Schools" must be provided to "residents, or the facility operator before the job begins, and to families whose children attend the child care facility."
Lastly, the EPA booklet for repair/renovation contractors provides details on the types of mitigation steps and procedures which must be used before, during and after the work.
What is the penalty for a firm that does not comply with the EPA rule?
$32,500 per violation, per day.
Is there an insurance requirement for contractors?
No. While the EPA rule requires that the contractor take an 8-hour course approved by EPA on how to work safely with structures containing lead paint, there is no requirement in the new lead paint rule that the contractor carry insurance. However, as news of this new EPA rule is making the rounds among contractors, landlords and property managers, agents and insurers, the most immediate issue is whether or not the unendorsed CGL would provide coverage for the contractor, should someone in the home or the child care facility become ill by ingesting or inhaling dust containing lead paint as a result of the repair/renovation work.
At issue is whether or not the CGL pollution exclusion would apply. The pollution exclusion has been heavily litigated for many years, and different jurisdictions around the country have reached different conclusions, in part because there are so many layers to the onion. In addition, some insurers have for years attached some version of an exclusion to many classes of risks where there might be work involving lead-based paint, asbestos, etc. Recently, some insurers have been distributing information flyers to agents announcing new specialty policies for "Contractor's Pollution - Lead Based Paint," as a result of the new EPA rule.
It is beyond the scope of this article to address the CGL pollution issue regarding lead-based paint. And it is important to note that nothing in the EPA rule appears to have any impact on the insurance policy anyway. The basic thrust of the rule is to increase public safety by requiring certain mitigation efforts by contractors working on pre-1978 homes where lead-based paint might be present. In other words, contractors who currently do repair/renovation work to pre-1978 homes may or may not have CGL coverage for any lead-based paint injuries to third parties, irrespective of the EPA rule. Therefore, in jurisdictions where it seems the pollution exclusion would apply, the insured should procure coverage through some sort of contractor's pollution or similar policy.
From: Mike Edwards, CPCU, Virtual University
[Thanks to John Eubank, ARM, CPCU, of Professional Insurance Education, and Chris Bunbury, eS, of Environmental Risk Managers, for their valuable assistance in the research for this article.]
Additional Resources:
"EPA Lead Information"
"EPA Contractor Brochure"
"Professional Remodeler"
Posted on Mon, Mar 15, 2010
From: Floodsmart.gov
By now, you probably know that only flood insurance covers flood damage, but you probably don't know all of the details. Here are a few of the more frequent terms:
Insurance Agent
Flood insurance can only be purchased through an insurance agent; you cannot buy it directly from the federal government. If your local insurance agent is unfamiliar with the NFIP you can:
Coverage
As with any other type of insurance, it's important to know what your policy does and doesn't cover. For example, damage caused by a sewer backup is only covered by flood insurance if it's a direct result of flooding. The damage is not covered if the backup is caused by some other problem. For a complete summary of coverage, go to What's Covered.
Deductible
Deductibles apply separately to building and contents with different amounts to choose from. Like other insurance plans, a higher deductible will lower the premium you pay, but will also reduce your claim payment. Your mortgage lender can also set a maximum amount for your deductible.
Mandatory Requirements
Homes and businesses with mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders in high-risk flood areas are required to have flood insurance. While flood insurance is not federally required if you live in a moderate-to-low risk flood area, it is still available and strongly recommended.
Rates
The NFIP, a federal program, offers flood insurance, which can be purchased through most leading insurance companies. Rates are set and do not differ from company to company or agent to agent. These rates depend on several factors including the date and type of construction of your home, along with your area's level of risk. All premiums include a Federal Policy Fee and ICC Premium.
30-Day Waiting Period
There is typically a 30-day waiting period-from date of purchase-before a new flood policy goes into effect. Here are the only exceptions:
- If your lender requires flood insurance in connection with the making, increasing, extending, or renewing of your loan.
- If an additional amount of insurance is required as a result of a map revision.
- If flood insurance is required as a result of a lender determining that a loan that does not have flood insurance coverage should be protected by flood insurance.
- If an additional amount of insurance is being obtained in connection with the renewal of a policy.
Payment
Payment must be made for the full year's premium, unless your agent or company provides that independently. The National Flood Insurance Program accepts check and credit card payments (i.e. American Express, VISA, MasterCard). Coverage will not be effective until full payment is received.
Posted on Mon, Mar 08, 2010
By Bobbie Sage, About.com Guide
Life insurance is designed to protect your family and other people who may depend on you for financial support. If you die and lose your income, the people that are dependent on your financial support will lose that income, so life insurance can help cover some or all of that loss depending on the policy you choose. But there are instances where life insurance can be beneficial even if you have no dependents, such as your desire to cover your own funeral expenses. Here are some guidelines to help you decide if life insurance is the right choice for you:
1. Children: Children do not need life insurance. Yes, there have been cases where life insurance for one's child has been a blessing, but in the majority of cases, children do not need life insurance since no one depends on income from them. Learn more at Don't Buy Insurance You Don't Need
2. Beginning Families: Life insurance should be purchased if you are considering starting a family. Your rates will be cheaper now than when you get older and your future children will be depending on your income. Learn more at Parents: How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? 
3. Established Families: If you have a family that depends on you, you need life insurance now! This does not include only the spouse or partner working outside the home. Life insurance also needs to be considered for the person working in the home. The costs of replacing someone to do domestic chores, home budgeting, and childcare can cause significant financial problems for the surviving family. Learn more at Parents: How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
4. Young Single Adults: The reason a single adult would typically need life insurance would be to pay for their own funeral costs or if they help support an elderly parent or other person they may care for financially. Otherwise, if one has other sources of money for a funeral and has no other persons that depend on their income then life insurance would not be a necessity.
5. Non-Child Working couples: Both persons in this situation would need to decide if they would want life insurance. If both persons are bringing in an income that they feel comfortable living on alone if their partner should pass away, then life insurance would not be necessary except if they wanted to cover their funeral costs. But, maybe in some instances one working spouse contributes more to the income or would want to leave their significant other in a better financial position, then as long as purchasing a life insurance policy would not be a financial burden, it could be an option. For a low cost life insurance option look into Term Life Insurance
6. Elderly: As long as you do not have people depending on your income for support, life insurance at this stage in life would not be necessary, unless again, you do not have any other means to pay for your funeral expenses. But, be aware that purchasing a life insurance policy at this age can be very expensive. Before doing so, first talk to a financial advisor or accountant about looking into other saving options to pay for your funeral costs before considering life insurance.
Posted on Thu, Mar 04, 2010
From: Mass.gov
Watch Out for the "Boomerang"
Layoffs and a dearth of new job openings continue to add to the high rate of unemployment, leaving an increasing number of new college grads and young adults unable to make ends meet. Left with limited options, many are moving back home with Mom and Dad. A recent Pew Research Center study found that, in the past year, nearly 13 percent of parents with grown children have had at least one of their adult sons or daughters return home to live for financial reasons.
Saddled with college loans and unexpected job loss, these young adults - sometimes called "Boomerangers" - are forced to live at home until they can find a job and get their finances back on track. A grown child moving back home can create insurance implications that must be considered carefully and understood to ensure everyone stays protected.
Review Your Home and Auto Insurance Policies
A move back home provides the perfect opportunity to review existing home and auto insurance coverage for both parents and children to ensure it adequately reflects the new living arrangement. Parents should discuss the situation with their insurance agent or company to determine what level of coverage their family needs.
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Home Insurance
As part of the review process, families might find they can save money by combining existing insurance policies. For example, young adults renting before moving back home no longer need renter's insurance; instead, they could potentially be added to the homeowner's policy. However, they need to be sure that their parents' homeowner's policy has a broad enough scope to include them as "insured."
Young adults might need additional coverage if the move back home forced them to rent a storage locker for their belongings or if they have big-ticket items, like jewelry, expensive electronic equipment or other valuables that may require coverage beyond what their parents' homeowner's policy has currently. |
Auto Insurance
Auto insurance coverage is another important consideration. Does the young adult have his or her own car that needs to be added to the parent's policy? Does the young adult need to be added as another driver of an existing family vehicle? The good news is parents can keep any member of the family on their auto insurance policy as long as that person lives in the same house.
Keep in mind that rates may increase whenever you add a driver to your policy, so parents should look for discounts such as those given for multiple vehicles, multiple policies (homeowner's, life, health, disability), anti-theft devices and good driving records. |
Adding Your Boomerang to Your Health Insurance
If your child is unemployed or unable to obtain or afford employer-sponsored health insurance, you might be able to add your child to your policy. Under Massachusetts law, a parent's fully-insured health insurance plan can now cover young adult children to either age 26 or 2 years past the last year in which the child could be claimed as an exemption on the parent's federal income tax - whichever comes first. You should reach out to the Division of Insurance to learn more about how Massachusetts laws affect your coverage.
Explore Alternative Options for Health Insurance Coverage
If young adults don't qualify for a parent's policy, other options can be considered to make sure they stay protected.
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Alumni Associations
University alumni associations can be a resource for cost-effective insurance plans - health, auto, life - but this might require application within a set period of time after graduation and perhaps membership in the alumni association. |
Commonwealth Care
The Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program is offered through the Commonwealth Health Connector (Connector). It is a subsidized insurance program for uninsured individuals with incomes that fall within certain guidelines and who meet other qualifications. |
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Industry Associations
Many professional groups and associations also provide members access and preferred rates for auto and life insurance. If part of an industry group, check with the organization to see what benefits are available. |
Commonwealth Choice
The Connector makes available young adult health insurance plans designed specifically for 18-26 year-olds. While not subsidized, these plans offer good value for individuals in this age group.
Consumers should reach out to the Commonwealth Health Connector to learn if they might be eligible. |
Posted on Tue, Mar 02, 2010
By Warren Mackensen
Dollars & Sense
Many professionals are unintentionally negligent when it comes to information security and mistakenly feel safe storing client personal information and e-mailing password-protected files.
Security breaches can happen quickly - a hacked e-mail, a stolen laptop, or a disgruntled employee who steals a confidential file. Before they know it, companies are dealing with a data breach that exposed sensitive customer information - and looking at lawsuits, furious clients, huge fines and negative publicity as part of the aftermath. Client personal information includes your client's first name (or first initial) and last name combined with one of the following: Social Security number, driver's license number or state-issued ID card number, financial account number, credit card information, or debit card number. Without the proper safeguards in place, companies are vulnerable to outsiders who can easily gain access to this sensitive information, causing major issues such as identity theft, unwanted costs, ruined reputations, and loss of client loyalty.
Since security breaches have become increasingly common, state and government regulators are starting to keep a closer watch on how companies handle client personal information. In fact, an onslaught of security breaches has prompted states like Massachusetts to create strict security breach prevention regulations (201 CMR 17.00).
This law requires that, if you have personal information on one or more Massachusetts citizens, you must implement the law - even if you are in New Hampshire, Maine or anywhere else in the country. By March 1, no matter where they're based, all companies who hold sensitive personal information on one or more Massachusetts citizens must have a written Information Security Program (ISP). These companies must also implement other safeguards that require thorough IT environment reviews.
If professionals don't comply by the upcoming deadline, they may face severe consequences including lawsuits, costly fines, and loss of clients. The Massachusetts data privacy law, the strictest of any state, will likely become the standard for the nation, significantly impacting the way client personal information is handled in the future. It's critical that professionals who work with client personal information, including IT consultants, CPAs, attorneys, mortgage companies, financial advisors and others, develop an Information Security Plan that outlines specific, proactive steps to follow that will ensure they're in compliance.
At a minimum, they must:
- Designate an Information Security Officer to be responsible for developing the company's formal written Information Security Plan.
- Identify administrative, technical, and physical risks associated with personal information security and document all possible breaches.
- Secure servers, networks, laptops, flash drives, and portable hard drives with passwords, firewall security, and anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
- Encrypt e-mails and e-mail attachments, USB flash drives, and PDAs containing personal information.
- Manage record destruction properly (in-office shredding, offsite-shredding or on-site shredding).
- Train employees in information security procedures and how to avoid the loss of personal information.
- Create an employee termination checklist to disable former employee access to personal information.
- Develop a security breach incident response plan detailing what to do should there be a security breach.
- Conduct a required annual information security program review.
There are so many steps a company needs to take to be sure they're meeting regulatory and compliance requirements, it can be overwhelming. Although it may be frustrating for companies to have to go through the process of being compliant, organizations need to realize that with the evolution of technology, the days of password-protecting a PDF file containing personal information and sending it as an e-mail attachment are over.
Many professionals still don't recognize this as a risky behavior so awareness is key. Companies need to educate and train all employees to ensure data security and to protect their clients' data from exposure.
The Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 is just the beginning of a nationwide movement towards demanding that companies be more proactive in avoiding security breaches that could be devastating to their businesses and their clients. It's imperative that companies take immediate action by conducting a thorough review of their entire IT environment and putting the necessary security safeguards in place to ensure protection.
Posted on Tue, Mar 02, 2010
A recent Virginia Tech study shows that dialing a cell phone makes a driver 2.8 times more likely to crash than one who is undistracted. Talking on the phone makes a driver 30 percent more likely to crash. While these numbers clearly show the dangers of cell phone use while driving, they pale in comparison to what a related study of truck drivers indicated about texting: Drivers sending text messages are 23 times more likely to crash than undistracted drivers.
The dangers of texting are obvious. Sending a text message requires a person to take his or her eyes off the road and the traffic ahead. The study showed that texting drivers had their eyes off the road and on their cell phones for almost the entire six seconds immediately prior to crashing.
Researchers put video cameras inside truck cabs to track and record eye movements of 203 truck drivers over three million miles on the road.
Widespread agreement is developing among law enforcement officials that texting while driving should be banned. But they acknowledge that enforcing such laws can be difficult because it is not readily apparent to an outside observer if a driver is sending a text message while behind the wheel. Seventeen states have texting bans already. Nevada, however, does not ban or restrict texting or cell phone use while driving.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is calling for a nationwide ban on texting. The federal government is said to be considering tying such a ban to federal road funds. If states refuse to enact the ban, they may lose some funding for highway projects.
Nearly half of drivers between ages 18 and 24 say they have sent a text message while driving, according to a survey by FindLaw.com. More than a quarter of drivers between 25 and 34 admit to texting while driving, too. Unsurprisingly, the percentages drop as age increases: Only one percent of drivers over the age of 65 say they have sent a text message while driving.
From: Findlaw
Article provided by Harris & Harris Lawyers http://www.harrisschwartz.com/