Insurance News Continued...

Watch Out for Toll Roads
According to Federal safety investigators, the most dangerous place on the highway is the toll plaza. 49% of all interstate accidents in Illinois are at toll plazas, 38% of accidents on New Jersey toll roads are at toll plazas and in Pennsylvania, 30% of accidents on their toll roads take place at plazas. So, if you find yourself on a toll road in your travels, make sure you have your change ready.

California Quake Could Cost Billions
A new study from Risk Management Solutions estimates that if a magnitude 7.9 earthquake were to hit the San Andreas Fault today (100 years after the devastating San Francisco earthquake in 1906) there would be at least $260 billion in damages to residential and commercial exposures. $50 to $80 billion of that would be covered by property and workers' comp. insurers.

Mississippi Storm Surge Case Upholds Exclusion
A federal judge in Mississippi upheld the water damage exclusion found in homeowners policies. The storm surge was found as part of the flood exclusion found in policies in force during Katrina. Plaintiffs argued that storm surge was not included in the policy language and was not, therefore, a part of the flood exclusion. But the court found that the language was clear and enforceable, finding that the exclusion had the "clear purpose of excluding damage caused by inundation from coverage."

Speaking of Hurricanes: 2006 Season Can Be Worse than 2005
According to leading hurricane expert Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, 2006 could be as bad or worse than 2005. "All it takes is one major storm to hit one community." Meteorologist William Gray, Professor at Colorado State University, agrees. He predicts 17 named storms this year, with an 81% probability that a major category 3, 4, or 5 storm will make landfall somewhere on the coastline of the U.S. The average probability over the last century has been 52%.