Dwindling Teen Insurance Rates

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Last year was a good year for teen drivers. Insurance companies and the state agencies are reporting low accidents involving teen drivers across the country. The reason behind this is still unclear, but nonetheless, good indicators that may help in reducing the rates for teens are insurance premiums.

It’s possible that because of stricter laws on teen drivers, improved educational system and the economics have brought this dream into a reality.

Reports indicate that in 2010, the state of Nutmeg recorded the fewest number of accidents involving teen drivers in the span of ten years. They have attributed this success to their stringent laws enacted in 2008.

These laws make use of the “graduated approach.” New drivers at the age of 16 are put into restrictive driving privileges and will only be granted with additional privileges if the teen demonstrates responsible driving skills and road manners.

Unfortunately, fatal crashes involving teen drivers are still happening these days. In fact, one accident took the lives of four teenagers and the other one in critical condition in a single-car accident.

Apparently, the 16-year old driver is not yet allowed to carry passengers other than an adult guardian or instructor to be able to drive. It seems that the driver’s rowdy friends distracted his concentration resulting to the fatal crash. This only proves the need for such laws to be imposed. Although these laws won’t help in reducing the insurance costs directly, it will be of great help in saving the lives of teen drivers.

However, such laws are hard to enforce because this conflicts with the other laws that prohibits profiling. For example, it’s clear that no teen drivers are allowed to drive after a curfew period of 11pm, or in some states vehicle codes are enforced. This directly conflicts the anti-profiling laws that prohibit any law enforcement agencies or the police to pull over a vehicle to check if the driver is underage. It’s only possible to pull a vehicle if there is a clear indication of road violations.

In the state of Connecticut, the law requires at least eight hours of formal driving education and at least thirty-two hours of supervised driving for a teenager to qualify and be granted with a driver’s license. And since the law allows the parents to supervise their children in completing the required thirty-two hours of driving, the qualifications of the parents are now being questioned too.

In the recent years, formal driving lessons are incorporated in the high school levels. However, this no longer exists today due to the lack of funds. The solution is to enroll into a private professional training school, which can be pretty expensive. Many families are unable to afford this, resulting to mediocre driving manners.

The responsibility now lies on the shoulders of our parents who need to make sure that their kids are complying with the road laws. Apart from their own protection, teen drivers showing responsibility in driving will entitle them to a reasonable teen car insurance policy.