Politically, the fate of car insurance in the Commonwealth is building up as a political battle between forces for deregulation and forces to preserve regulation. Within the given market realities, that battle is important. However, Steve Bailey pens the piece that needed to be written on the subject. Accident rates, not regulatory schemes, are the real issue here:
It is no secret why we have some of the highest rates in the country: Massachusetts leads the nation in accidents — 40 percent higher than the state with the second-highest rate, Rhode Island. Since the day that maniac Paul Revere roared through the city’s narrow streets at midnight, we Bostonians have considered bad driving a birthright. And every year we get to pay for it come premium time.
He proposes a few measures to curb accidents and casualties: tougher seat belt laws, cellphone use restrictions, and camera monitoring of intersections. One could probably add a couple, including more rigorous driver education and testing. I don’t know about Massachusetts, but having taken Rhode Island’s written test for a driver’s license, I can attest that Rhode Islander’s inexplicable confusion over basic rules of the road has an identifiable explanation. The culture of driving won’t change overnight - particularly in a congested urban area where even the worst violation of traffic rules sometimes have a function - but starting with a new generation of drivers may be our best shot.
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