Drive to Cut Insurance Rates Seems to Have Stalled Out
Dear Street Smart:
Since the election and the appointment of a new insurance commissioner, I have not seen anything positive happen. My auto insurance rates (and everyone else’s that I know of) are still ridiculously high.
I thought the law requiring everyone in California to have car insurance was supposed to repeal itself in two years. What is the penalty or fine for driving without insurance? What is going on?
Brad Smith, Irvine
Your confusion is understandable. Much has been happening recently in the state courts and the Legislature regarding auto insurance. But the action has yet to translate into lower rates, insurance rebates or no-fault policies.
Let’s take on the question about mandatory auto insurance first.
For three years, drivers stopped for traffic violations were required to show police officers proof of insurance. This enforcement action was a temporary experiment under the Robbins-McAlister Act, which expired in January.
Now, the previous insurance law applies, which requires proof of coverage to the Department of Motor Vehicles following accidents in which damages exceed $500. Without proof of insurance, a driver’s license may be suspended, but the chances of getting caught are now much less.
Stepped-up enforcement may return if a low-cost basic policy becomes available, although there is little political will to increase enforcement while some people cannot afford coverage.
As for Prop. 103, the insurance reform measure passed by voters in November, 1988, many of its provisions have gone into effect. For example, where you live no longer plays such a large role in determining your rates. Other factors, such as the number of miles you drive, years of driving experience and your safety record, are given greater weight than in the past.
But how about those rollbacks? Where’s your rebate?
The provision of Prop. 103 calling for rate rollbacks of 1989 premiums to 20% below 1987 levels is still being fought over. First, the industry sued on grounds that the provision was unfair. Then the courts ruled that the rollbacks were OK, as long as the companies were accorded a “fair and reasonable rate of return.”
Insurance Commissioner Roxani M. Gillespie set her own regulations about what was fair, only to have them overturned in January, when John Garamendi was elected to the office.
Garamendi also froze insurance rate hikes after entering office, but many increases had already been granted by Gillespie. So your rates may still increase during your next renewal, despite the “freeze.”
Garamendi has almost finished writing his own regulations about fair rates of return and expects to hold rollback hearings over the summer. By fall, rebate checks should go out to some consumers, according to Bill Schulz, Garamendi’s spokesman.
But some insurers have already said they will challenge the rollbacks in court, which would delay the process. Schulz says Garamendi’s office is confident they’ll be able to quickly defeat any challenge.
Keep watching your mailbox to learn the answer.
Dear Street Smart:
There is a relatively new light at Imperial Highway and Leslie Street/Lakeview Drive in Brea. It was installed to accommodate the recent development on the north side of Imperial near that location. While there is considerable merit in placing the light there, the timing and operation of it are a real mess for people who want to turn left from or onto Imperial.
During non-peak hours, the left-turn signal changes soon after traffic approaches. But during the rest of the day, the wait is awful, and often without any significant traffic on Imperial to justify the wait.
It would be both safe and of great benefit if the signal allowed left turns through either better control of the left-turn lights or with a yield-to-oncoming traffic limitation. Most of the people turning there are experienced at making lefts given the prior absence of a light.
Harlow Judson, La Habra
Once again, it’s the same old story--a few people have to wait for the benefit of the rest.
In that area, there was a high demand for cars to be able to safely cross busy Imperial Highway, according to Tony Liudzius, the Caltrans electrical engineer who oversees the timing of state highway signals in the county.
To satisfy the demand, Brea realigned Leslie in the north with Lakeview in the south. The California Department of Transportation then installed a signal, so cars would not have to dash across the highway during brief gaps in traffic.
“We don’t want to throw in extra signals if we don’t have to, but sometimes we have to,” Liudzius said. With 56,000 cars a day passing along Imperial at that point, the signal is well justified to allow cross traffic through, he said.
It is unlikely that the left-turn lights on Imperial would be changed to protective/permissive, where traffic gets a green arrow to make a protected left turn, then after the arrow, may still turn left on the green light when possible.
Traffic volume on Imperial makes protective/permissive too unsafe, Liudzius said. Despite driver experience, there were still about four left-turn-related accidents a year before the signal. Now the number has dropped to one, he said.
Nor will Caltrans change the signal to make it traffic-actuated during peak hours. The signal is coordinated with others along Imperial, and coordination is already made difficult by the high number of signals between Euclid Street and Harbor Boulevard.
While it may seem as if the signal has time to allow cars to make their left turns on demand, such an attempt would disrupt the coordination as well as the significant traffic flow along Imperial, Liudzius said.
