News of the Week 10-15-18

The Siegel Insurance Agency has made it easy to access the right auto insurance to suit your needs. We provide helpful information across Danbury, CT.

Learn more about the reasons and benefits of having auto insurance covered with The Siegel Insurance Agency in Brookfield, Danbury, & Bethel, CT.

The benefits of homeowners insurance outweigh the yearly cost. Here are a few reasons why you should purchase homeowners' insurance.

If you're from Danbury, CT or any of the nearby areas, then you're no stranger to snow and ice. Browse the following blog to learn some tips for driving in wintery conditions!

Wondering why you need auto insurance? Click here to learn more about the reasons you must have auto insurance!

The Connecticut legislature is ironing out the final details of Public Act 18-160. This legislation will add a $12 fee to every homeowners insurance policy (not including tenant) issued in the state. The funds collected will be deposited in the Healthy Homes Fund established for the sole purpose of assisting homeowners whose foundations are crumbling due to phyrrhotite (iron sulfide) content in the concrete that was used. This type of loss is not covered by insurance. Cracking may appear as variegated, "random pattern" in concrete slabs, walls, and foundations whose concrete contains high levels of pyrrhotite. Moisture as well as oxygen react with this iron sulfide material, causing it to swell with tremendous force, causing varied-pattern cracking in the concrete. The fee will be charged starting January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2029.

When motorcycles and cars collide there can never be a good result. As our Connecticut weather improves more and more motorcycles will be taking to the road. And as that happens the incidence of motorcycle-car collisions will increase. By definition, accidents are not intentional acts. They occur because at least one driver is inattentive, distracted or uses bad judgement. Motorcycles may be hard to spot or maybe traveling faster than you thought but inevitably with little protection, and in Connecticut, many cyclists without a helmet, serious injury or death to the motorcyclist are is not an unusual result putting the drivers of cars in serious financial peril The following material is obtained from “ctbythnumbers” : The state Department of Transportation expects 47 motorcyclists to die in traffic accidents in this year and next. According to a Department of Transportation report for Fiscal 2017, there was a fluctuating number of motorcyclist fatalities from 2010 to 2014, with a low of 37 in 2011 and a high of 57 in 2013. Those numbers are expected to remain constant, department projections indicate. The report said the majority of motorcycle fatal and injury crashes occurred between the hours of noon and 8 p.m. and the crashes most commonly happened on Saturdays and Sundays. Most fatal and injury crashes occurred in the summer months, and almost all motorcycle operators involved in crashes were male. Cited most often as contributing factors were “driver lost control,” “driving too fast for conditions,” and “road condition/object in road.” In multiple vehicle crashes where the other driver was at fault, the major contributing factor in 47 percent of these crashes was failure to grant the right-of-way, the DOT report indicated. May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. Only about 42 percent of motorcyclists in Connecticut wear helmets, according to Neil Chaudhary, PhD, leader of a Trumbull team of premier investigators on behavioral traffic safety-related issues at Preusser Research Group, Inc. In states where helmets are required, there is near 100 percent compliance, he recently told the Newtown Bee, adding professional driver training, offered throughout the state, can help riders to develop stronger defensive driving skills. The Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center reports the estimated loss to the state from motorcycle related injuries and death is $400 million. The group says helmet use reduced the risk of death by 37% and head injuries by 69%, FOX61 reported. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that about 5,000 motorcycle operators and hundreds of motorcycle passengers lose their lives in accidents each year in the United States. These numbers account for about 13 percent of total traffic fatalities, even though motorcycles account for just three percent of all registered vehicles, the Newtown Bee reported. In addition to the fatalities, about 100,000 operators and passengers are injured each year.

According to an article in the Standard, for the second year is a row, pedestrian deaths will hover around 6,000 accounting for almost 16% of deaths involving motor vehicles as opposed to 11% a few years ago. This based on data compiled by the Governors Highway Safety Association GHSA). The GHSA attributes this alarming trend to the use of smartphones and the legalization of recreational marijuana. According to the data, for the period 2012 to 2016, the seven states and D.C. that legalized marijuana use experienced a 16.4% increase in pedestrian deaths as compared to a 5.8% decrease in the states that didn’t.

The typical Homeowners Insurance policy in use today is a “package” policy that includes all sorts of coverage, some of which is obvious but some of which is not. The average policy will include about 50 pages of text that details the policy coverages, conditions, limitations and exclusions. Also, there is a sections that is referred to as the policy Declarations. The policy Declarations tailor the policy to the needs of a specific insured and make the policy unique to the individual or individuals listed as the “Named Insured”. In addition to showing the Named Insured, the Declarations pages specify the insurance company providing the coverage, the policy number, the policy term, the location that is insured, the coverages and limits that apply, the coverage forms that apply, list any additional interests and show the policy premium. Our next article will continue our “journey” of discovery into the land of the Homeowners insurance policy.