Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance Could Relieve Traffic Congestion

By charging drivers for each mile they travel, rather than a fixed amount, pay-as-you-drive insurance could cut driving by eight percent nationally, or more than eleven percent in New York State, says a Brookings Institution report.

1 minute read

January 7, 2011, 6:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur


According to Noah Kazis at Streetsblog, the NY DOT is "...looking for information about what barriers currently stand in the way of pay-as-you-drive in New York, what it would take to make a program successful, and different ways the data might be collected."

Kazis explains, "The idea is simple. Right now, most car insurance policies cost the same whether you drive 500 miles in a year or 50,000. While some of the costs of car-ownership change based on how you drive, like fuel or maintenance, insurance doesn't. If insurance premiums rose with every mile you drove, it would be one more incentive for drivers to keep the mileage down."

Thanks to Noah Kazis

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 in Streetsblog

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