Auto insurance rates climb more due to some traffic tickets than others

Recent news by a website examined national data and found that certain violations cost more than others.

In recent auto insurance news, the results of a national analysis of traffic ticket and premiums data, conducted by San Francisco based InsuranceQuotes.com revealed that some violations cause rates to rise more than others.

Overall, safer drivers pay less than riskier ones, but some tickets are more costly than others.

The study showed that the moving violations that can lead to the highest penalties –in the form of the ticket itself, from the legal fees that could be involved, and the increase in auto insurance premiums – had to do with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The penalty for this type of ticket was evaluated as being a 93 percent premiums increase, on average. In second place was an 82 percent average increase for reckless driving (that is, operating the vehicle in some way that displayed a complete disregard for road rules).

There were also a number of other smaller charges that could still impact auto insurance premiums.

Among the charges that bring about smaller increases to automobile insurance premiums include careless driving (such as talking on a cell phone while driving, failing to yield a right of way, or driving a vehicle in a way that could lead to injury or damage), or driving alone in the carpool lane. The average increases after having received those tickets are typically between 18 and 27 percent, according to the findings.

Speeding from 1 to 15 miles per hour over the speed limit could raise premiums by 21 percent, while speeding from 16 to 30 miles per hour over the limit could bring about an increase of 28 percent. On a notably smaller scale, failing to wear a seatbelt properly could bring premiums up by about five percent.

Many of these increases assume that the violation was done by a person who was otherwise a low risk and who had a clean driving record other than the specific ticket in question. That said, for drivers who have several accidents and/or violations on their records, auto insurance premiums could positively skyrocket or their policies could be cancelled outright, depending on what the violations happened to be.