Allstate Insurance Company recently released their annual list of cities with the best and worst drivers. Sadly, no city in Texas was included in the top 10 list for best or safest drivers. The only good news is no city in Texas made it in the top 10 of worst drivers either.
More people are buying new cars as we continue to see the U.S. economy slowly improving. These new car buyers are replacing older cars that they’ve driven longer. Another factor that’s helped people move forward with new car purchases are the low interest rates we’ve enjoyed the past several years.
The Texas Legislature wrapped up their business earlier this year with 4 new laws all Texas drivers need to know about. The laws are intended to save lives and make our road ways safer for drivers and our kids. All of them went into effect on September 1.
You’re driving your new car on LBJ freeway in Dallas, headed to D/FW Airport to catch a flight out of town. You smell smoke and notice people are looking at you funny and maybe even waving as they pass. Your car loses power but you’re able to locate a safe place to pull over. Your car’s on fire! You grab your cell phone, dial 911, and wait for the Dallas Fire Department to arrive.
The Texas State legislature passed the original Move Over law in 2003. It was designed to protect all law enforcement officers, emergency vehicles, and first responders from being struck by a driver when working on the side of a road or highway. The law requires any driver approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with lights activated to slow down or move over one lane.
The Texas Department of Insurance recently released a report detailing the number of people driving without coverage. The good news is the number of Texans driving without car insurance is still lower than it was a few years ago when it was over 20% of all Dallas drivers. The current figures show 1 in 6 people on Dallas roadways don’t have car insurance and this number is even higher than it was last year.
Several months ago, a friend of mine called. Tom, not his real name, and his buddy had traveled to San Antonio for a guy’s trip a couple of weekends earlier. Tom drove through a construction zone where there was a lane shift followed by a traffic light. Based on the location of the light, he mistakenly thought he was supposed to stop about 40 yards away. He ended up passing through the intersection and was struck by a car that had a green light. It was his fault.
I had coffee last week with a friend of mine in Dallas. We’ll call her Abby, not her real name. We were catching up on each other’s summer and how our businesses were doing; they’re both growing. Abby owns one of the top catering companies in Dallas handling everything from a family meal, when no one feels like cooking, to a sit down dinner for 5,000 people. She’s quite the chef! When my wife had eye surgery earlier this year, Abby gave me a batch of her tortilla soup to aid in Sheri’s recovery. It was the best soup either of us has ever had.
School supplies are out in force at Wal-Mart, Target, and office supply stores across the Dallas / Fort Worth area. That means it’s almost time for our kids to return to the classroom. In the next two weeks the familiar flashing light marking school zones will renew its warning and traffic will be interspersed with school buses for each of the independent school districts. It’s time to revisit Texas laws concerning both school zones and driving around buses.
In November of 2012, the states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize recreational marijuana usage. People can now legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana if they’re over 21. They may also legally grow up to six plants for personal use; however, they may not legally smoke in public places such as parks or on sidewalks.
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