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Colorado DOT Begins Using Driverless Truck to Protect Road Crews

Colorado’s transportation agency began using a driverless truck on Friday that is designed to protect highway work crews from oncoming traffic. The truck is officially known as an Autonomous Impact Protection Vehicle, but it is not really autonomous like the …

Public Investment Pays Off in Pedestrian, Bicyclist Safety

A new study of pedestrian and bicycle travel suggests investment in infrastructure and policies to encourage walking and biking is correlated with lower rates of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. The work by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the …

Nebraska Contractors Sue Insurers Over Unpaid Storm Damage

Two Omaha, Neb., contractors are expanding a legal strategy they say forces insurance companies to pay for storm damage, but industry officials say the practice leads to exaggerated claims and may drive away insurers. Home repair contractors Steve Shannon and …

Idaho City Agrees to Pay Medical Bills for Children’s Chemical Burns

The city of Lewiston, Idaho, has decided to pay medical bills for children from two families who suffered chemical burns at a park. The children were burned after city employees left a toxic paint stripper applied to graffiti near Pioneer …

Backlash Over Republican Bills Offering Immunity to Drivers Who Hit Protesters

Republican lawmakers in six states have pushed this year for legal protections for motorists who hit protesters blocking traffic. Fairly or not, they’re facing an intense backlash now that violent images of a car ramming into a crowd protesting a …

$150M Awarded in 1998 Arkansas School Shooting Lawsuit

A judge overseeing a civil lawsuit in northeast Arkansas on Monday awarded $150 million to the families of five people who were fatally shot outside an Arkansas school in 1998. Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson set off a fire alarm …

12th Annual Texas Hurricane Tour Begins

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) will lead a team of insurance experts and meteorologists in educating coastal Texans about the need for insurance coverage and hurricane preparedness as part of our 12th annual Hurricane Tour. The purpose is to …

Using Big Data to Predict and Prevent Power Outages

High-speed winds during a thunderstorm may cause trees around an electric grid to crash into the distribution system feeders causing an outage in that area. Currently, most utility companies diminish such accidents by scheduling regular tree-trimming operations. This effort is …

New Jersey Legislators Tout Flood Insurance Reform Legislation

Five years after Superstorm Sandy devastated towns along the New Jersey shore, Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Frank Pallone want changes made to federal flood insurance they said will fix a system that often failed beleaguered homeowners. Speaking Thursday on …

Drugged Driving a Rising Problem

An SUV crashed after all four occupants overdosed on heroin in North Carolina. The same day, a man in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, grabbed the steering wheel after his grandson lost consciousness while driving. Police in the city of 30,000 responded to …

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