By Steve McKay

Did you know that Progressive’s My Rate program doesn’t factor in speeding when determining discounts? We consider how frequently, how safely, and what time of day you drive. Many drivers feel that they need to speed in order to keep up with the flow of traffic and be safe. It turns out that the early government research on speeding, from back in the 1960s, found that what causes accidents is speed relative to traffic flow, not absolute speed (See, Solomon D. 1964. Accidents on main rural highways related to speed, driver and vehicle. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce & Bureau of Public Roads). And with MyRate, we observe something similar. Many people who do well on the "how safely" part have fewer accidents even if they tend to speed. You might conclude that they must be keeping up with traffic flow well. Consider, too, that going 50 mph can be much too fast if the highway is jammed or road conditions are bad.

So what to do about speeding tickets? Every insurance company still rates on those. And it’s easy to determine who has broken the rule. Would you rather have violations for going faster than traffic allows? Should insurance companies consider speeding tickets at all?

By Steve Mckay

In bad traffic, no less. Yikes! 

Clearly, MyRate is NOT for him. 

Any other horrific driving-while-doing-something-else stories?

By Steve Mckay 

I read another blog the other day that wondered how the MyRate device transmits data back to “PHQ” (Progressive headquarters, I presume ... no doubt where we conduct our covert ops against Dr. Evil). The truth is, the MyRate device is equipped with nothing more than a cell phone chip that sends text messages. It talks to the car’s computer, gets speed and time of day, and texts that to Progressive. Not exactly James Bond.

By Steve Mckay

I can draw you a graph. But describing is harder.

There is a less-traveled, back way into my office. The road curves a little, so it’s fun to drive. I brake hard whenever I come to the stop sign at the end because I’m mostly thinking about work. If I take the “front way” (read: slower and boring). I almost never brake hard.

That’s safe driving.