Hitting the road in Louisiana:

Driving safely on unsafe roads

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By David Bates

Louisiana residents have the highest car insurance premiums in the country, and the roads don’t come cheap either. Hurricane Gustav battered the state’s infrastructure this year, further increasing the cost of an already substantial system of roads. Also, East Baton Rouge Parish has a number of bridges that skirt the minimum safety requirements. These bridges could be closed if local government can’t find a way to fund them. Bridge improvements were among a number of projects found in Kip Holden’s narrowly rejected tax increase Nov. 4.

If the bridges have to close, it would add to the congestion on Baton Rouge roadways. Driving in the Sportsman’s Paradise carries an abnormally high level of risk. Much of the risk to life and limb comes from controllable factors like driver negligence, alcohol usage, and seatbelt usage.

The Highway Safety Research Group at LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business recorded 895 fatal crashes last year. About half of these crashes involved alcohol. Also, Dr. Helmut Shchneider, researcher, said state agencies’ crash reports show many Louisiana motorists neglect to use a seat belt.

“Wear your seat belts. While 25 percent of Louisiana drivers do not wear a seat belt, these 25 percent made up 63 percent of fatalities in 2007,” said Schneider.

All this risk carries a high price for the average Louisiana motorist. Louisiana has the most expensive auto insurance premiums in the country, averaging about $2,577 per year, according to a 2008 report by insurance.com.

So what steps can a Louisiana driver take to keep his or her rates down?

1. Get higher deductibles. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay before your insurance policy kicks in. A higher deductible means insurance companies are less likely to have to pay, which reduces the cost of the insurance. Raising the deductible from $200 to $500 can reduce rates by 25 percent.

2. Drop unnecessary coverage. Think about dropping collision and/or comprehensive coverage on older cars with a low market value. This kind of coverage has limited value because the claim made isn’t likely to be greater than the deductible. The Web sites Edmunds.com and kbb.com can provide a good look at a car’s current value.

3. Pay your credit card bills on time. Your credit rating often affects the cost of your insurance. Delinquent payments mean you’re a risk, which means insurance companies charge more.

4. Get a low profile car. Makes and models that are stolen more often, or have poor safety records, are more expensive to insure. The cost of repairing a vehicle also affects its insurance rate. The American Institute for Highway Safety has a website where you can check your vehicle’s risk level.

5. Stay off the road. Some insurance companies offer discounts to policy holders who drive fewer miles.

6. Get safety gear. Safety features like airbags, daytime running lights, and alarm systems can qualify you for an insurance discount.

8. Combine policies with one carrier. You can save money by insuring all your vehicles with the same carrier. It’s also possible to save if all of your insurance policies (e.g. health and life) come from the same carrier.

9. Ask about other discounts. You also might be able to pay less if you’ve had no accidents or moving violations in three years or if you’re a longtime customer. Shop around. Get quotes from a few other insurers to make sure you’re paying the lowest overall amount.

10. Don’t pay extra for roadside assistance. Invoking this coverage can raise your rates, and there are alternatives available.

Keep these tips in mind, and you may be able to keep your insurance premiums down. And, more importantly, you may be able to prevent an accident, and bring down the number of deaths on our roads.

Driving myths

Being ejected from a crash is a good thing.

FALSE. Being ejected from a crash is only desirable if you’re in an aircraft. Ejection from a passenger vehicle means crashing through a sheet of plate glass. Broken glass is sharp, and smashing through glass is a good way to rake it across the body with a tremendous amount of force. The person ejected comes to rest either on top of the broken glass, or concrete, neither of which is very forgiving to the human body.

I drive better when I’m drunk.

FALSE. Drugs and alcohol create a false sense of confidence in the user’s mind and makes things seem better than they are. In reality, the opposite is true; alcohol impairs the nervous system and greatly increases the chance of an accident.

Putting my dog/cat in the bed of my pickup truck while driving is a good move.

FALSE. It’s generally a bad move to put any unsecured cargo in the bed of a truck, but a live animal stands out as a particularly bad choice. It’s no smarter to let a dog loose in the back of a truck than it is to let it loose anywhere else. There isn’t a particularly good place for a dog in most pickups, but the cab is always safer than the unstable, unsecured bed of a truck.

Smaller Engines consume less gas.

FALSE. The amount of weight an engine has to haul, including the frame of the car, figures significantly into its mileage. Smaller engines use less gas under ideal conditions, but they aren’t a particularly good choice for hauling loads. Conversely, big engines are great as workhorses but rather inefficient for an average person’s transportation needs.

Originally Published: Issue 712 - November 12, 2008

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