By Laurence Darmiento, LOS ANGELES TIMES
After experiencing the loss of three friends in auto accidents, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor decided she needed to take action.
She immersed herself in the movement to improve driving safety, and now the Hawthorne Democrat is writing controversial legislation that could revolutionize how auto insurance rates (opens in new tab) are set for many California drivers.
McKinnor’s Consumer Driving Data Protection Act (opens in new tab) would allow insurers to track speed, braking and other driving habits to establish a motorist’s safety record, a key component in setting individual premiums – as long as the motorist agrees to it.
While such tracking has Big Brother overtones, the bill promises lower rates for drivers who might not have the best driving record, but can show they are now going easy on the gas and have stopped weaving in and out of traffic.
Currently, a driver’s safety record is determined by the Department of Motor Vehicles’ point system, which considers a driver’s moving violations and accidents.
That system would remain in place for those who don’t want insurers tracking them and looking over their shoulder every time they get behind the wheel.
The use of so-called telematics, though common in other states, has raised concerns among privacy and consumer groups due to the data collected by insurers and the technology companies that provide the systems. Critics also doubt that the systems do much to reduce collisions.
“This bill forces Californians to choose between their privacy and affordable auto insurance,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of Los Angeles advocacy group Consumer Watchdog (opens in new tab).
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Consumer Watchdog, founded by attorney Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103, has been among the most notable opponents of the legislation.
Although the bill bans sale of the collected data, the group contends the legislation includes loopholes that will allow its disclosure. Consumer Watchdog also cites secrecy surrounding the telematics companies’ proprietary algorithms.
“It rips out Prop. 103’s good-driver protections and replaces your actual driving record with a black-box score built on sweeping data collection,” Balber said.
Ryan McMahon, a senior vice president at Cambridge Mobile Telematics (opens in new tab), the country’s largest auto telematics company, said the bill has robust data protections, allows only for driving habits to determine a driving safety score and is misunderstood by critics generally opposed to telematics.
“There’s a number of high-level things that people are opposed to in principle that are not represented in the language,” he said, noting the bill gives state regulators access to the algorithms.
Another issue raised by Consumer Watchdog is that the bill could result in motorists with poor driving records paying less for insurance than excellent drivers who don’t want to be tracked – with those drivers, in essence, paying for tracking discounts. The group alleges that is a violation of Proposition 103.
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