Beginning Sunday, July 1, law enforcement across Georgia will begin enforcing the new Hands-Free Georgia Act. Drivers in our state will no longer be allowed to hold cellphones or other electronic devices while driving.

This is a major change, and it affects everyone who operates a motor vehicle in Georgia. We want you to be aware of what this law means so you can continue to practice safe habits behind the wheel. We realize this is a learning process for all motorists but trust it will lead to less distracted driving.

The Governor's Office on Highway Safety believes the biggest benefit of the law is that officers can easily see if someone is holding their phone or not. The agency has said that 13 of the 15 states that use similar laws, have seen at least a 16 percent decrease in traffic deaths.
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The following is a closer look at the new hands-free law.

• All motorists may still use their phones while driving, but motorists can no longer hold or support their phones and drive. That means you cannot cradle your phone or any electronic wireless device while driving a moving vehicle. Making emergency phone calls IS an exception.
• Drivers cannot use more than one button to answer a call or use a mobile phone.
• Motorists cannot reach for a mobile phone if that means having to undo a seat belt or stand up.
• Drivers may use GPS, voice-to-text features, and make and receive phone calls hands-free. Single-ear headphones and Bluetooth pieces are acceptable aids for doing this. Using an earbud with a microphone on it (like the ones that comes with most phones) is a good workaround, if you do not have a Bluetooth-capable car or device.
• In-car navigation, communication and entertainment systems are allowed.
• Along with already-banned texting, drivers can no longer answer emails or other queries, watch or record videos from behind the wheel.
• As long as you are legally parked, you are allowed to do these things. Legally parked does NOT mean at a stoplight or in gridlocked traffic.
• First time offenders get one point on their license and a $50 fine. The second offense is two points and $100 and the third is three points and $150.
• Law enforcement, emergency and utility workers are still allowed to hold their phones.

For more information on the new law, you can visit the Governor's Office of Highway Safety website.

1. ​Well, if it is required where you live, you are breaking the law.
2. If you get caught breaking the law, the fines are substantial.
3. If you are at fault in a car accident and injure someone else, they will sue you for everything you are worth.
4. If you cause a car accident and your car is damaged, you will have to pay for the repairs yourself.
5. You are being a bad citizen. If you injure someone else, you will be unlikely to fairly compensate them for the harm you caused them. Imagine you cause a brain injury and the person needs care for the rest of their life, and you leave them with nothing.

​Be a good citizen and make sure to always have adequate insurance on your vehicles. Our office has many plans to suit your budget and insurance needs.

If you're hit with a lawsuit, your auto or homeowners insurance may not fully cover you.

Quick quiz: Do you own a dog? How about a swimming pool or trampoline? Do you have a long commute? Are you a hunter? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have an above-average chance of being sued. You are also more vulnerable if you have teen drivers at home, own more than one residence, employ domestic workers, entertain frequently, are active on social media, coach a youth sports team or serve on a nonprofit board.

Even if you don't have above-average risk, if you're sued and found at fault for personal injury to others, your homeowners and auto insurance may not fully cover your liability. In 2016, half of personal injury liability awards and settlements were $100,000 or more; some 19% were $1 million or more, according to the latest edition of Current Award Trends in Personal Injury.

If you get hit with a judgment, your home or auto policy will pay up to the limits of your liability coverage, plus attorneys' fees. If your insurance doesn't cover the tab, your future earnings, home and other assets could be on the line for the difference. You can protect yourself with an umbrella policy, which adds another layer of liability protection.
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We invite you to contact our office to discuss how inexpensively you can get this added layer of protection.

Follow these safety guidelines:

• Start sober. Don't get behind the wheel impaired -- whether it's due to exhaustion, medicine, alcohol or recreational drugs. Drunk/impaired drivers are responsible for approximately 10,000 fatalities a year.
  
  
• Before the car moves:
  • Plan your route, and set your map or navigation tech. Don't touch it again until after reaching your destination.
    
    
  • Pick your tunes, podcast, station or playlist and set at a volume that allows you to focus on your driving.
    
    
  • Put away your phone, other devices, food, make-up, or anything else that might tempt you to take your hands off the wheel.
    
    
  • BUCKLE UP. Everyone. Unrestrained (unbuckled) occupants make up nearly half of those killed in accidents.
• While on the road:
  • Obey speed limits and keep your eyes on the road.
    
    
  • Ask passengers to help you stay focused on everybody's safety.
    
    
  • Passengers (especially teens), speak up if the driver gets distracted or drives unsafely.
    
    
  • Parents, your children will learn from your behavior. Be the driver you want them to be.

Pledge to keep the Road Code — a commitment to focused, responsible driving. Keeping the pledge will save lives and money.

For many years, insurance companies that write personal automobile coverage used very conventional ways to develop the premiums they charged their customers. For decades the final cost of coverage was based on criteria such as:

• Driver age
• Geographic area (territory) of operation
• Miles driven
• Vehicle use (pleasure, business, farming)
• Marital status

And similar characteristics. For nearly as many years, insurance companies have longed for more sophisticated ways to create prices.

A couple of developments that have influenced pricing were the use of zip code information as well as credit-based insurance scores. However, even these; newer criteria were still considered blunt pricing methods. In other words, companies still sought out to refine the ways in which they could classify drivers. The additional criteria were still considered too general to be accurate, resulting in the use of prices made superior drivers subsidize poorer risks.

As is often the case, technology has opened the door to viable methods to markedly change the way automobile insurance rates are developed. The latest answer is telematics; the use of, essentially, tracking devices that can pinpoint precisely how, when and where a vehicle is driven.

Increasingly insurers use voluntary programs that incorporate portable data recorders. These devices are plugged into a given vehicle and then it records information such as vehicle speed, braking, time of operation and miles driven. This information allows an insurance company to create rates that accurately reflect a given driver’s potential for loss.

Another step that is already available is the use of GPS technology that can also record exactly where a vehicle is driven. However, this level of information has sparked concerns for privacy. A number of states have created laws that limit the gathering and/or use of such information.
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The issue to be prepared for is the continued, expanded use of tracking methods for creating insurance premiums, so remember…..someone’s watching.

The insurance approach for covering boats and boating property is quite like what is used to protect cars and homes. Essentially insurance is offered on a package basis, meaning that there is coverage for physical property as well as protection against the legal and financial consequences of injuring others or damaging property that belongs to others.

Property Coverage - Typically a boatowners policy covers:

• Boats - Refers to property designed to travel on water and includes sails, its permanent equipment, spars and fittings.
• Boating Equipment - Includes a wide variety of property that is used in conjunction with boats and it includes accessories. Items considered as equipment are property used for communication (radios), navigation, sonar, radar, outboard motors, dinghies, skis and sports equipment (recreational flotation devices) that are towed by boats and similar property. As a rule of thumb, the more related an item is to the ownership and use of a boat, the greater the justification to classify it as boating equipment.
• Boat Trailers - Trailers used (and designed) for transporting boats (as defined by the policy).

This property must be owned by the person who is named as the policyholder. There are limited instances when such property that is temporarily in the policyholder’s possession also qualifies for coverage.

Items and situations that aren’t covered include boating property that is used in business activity, losses that involve races or competitions (an exception is made for sailboats) and boats that are used, full-time, as residences.

Liability Coverage - Besides protecting boating property, a boatowners policy also responds to claims or lawsuits caused when another person is injured, and /or when another person’s property is damaged or destroyed. An example would be a collision where the owner of a large speedboat collides with a person on a jet ski, seriously injuring the rider and demolishing the jet ski. The policy would handle both portions of such a loss. The liability portion would also provide a legal defense against lawsuits.

Another important coverage under the liability section is medical payments. This provides reimbursement for, typically, emergency or immediate medical treatment expense. Consider a person who slips on a boat deck and needs transportation to an emergency for treatment of a broken bone or concussion. Such costs would qualify under medical payments.

As is the case with property coverage, there are liability situations that are NOT covered by a boatowners policy, including losses that involve business activity, transmission of communicable disease, unauthorized operation of boating property, intentional acts, and criminal activity.

Boating property is a substantial investment and boatowners coverage is an efficient, affordable way to guard against accidental losses. Please feel free to contact our office for a no-obligation review of all your insurance needs.

​How do I report insurance fraud in Georgia?
There are several ways to report fraud. Consumers can download the preprinted form and fax a copy to (404) 657-9831 or mail the information to the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, Enforcement Division – Fraud Unit, Suite 708, W., Tower, 2 Martin Luther King Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30334

If I report insurance fraud can I be held liable for the reporting?
No. The Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 33-1-16(c) (3) says: "In the absence of fraud or bad faith, a person is not subject to civil liability for libel, slander, or any other relevant tort by virtue of filing reports, without malice, or furnishing other information, without malice, required by this Code section or required by the Commissioner under the authority granted in this Code section, and no civil cause of action of any nature shall arise against such person."

Is there a reward for reporting insurance fraud?
No, there is no reward for reporting insurance fraud at the present time.  
     
What information is needed to support an insurance fraud complaint?
Documentation which supports the insurance fraud allegation, that may include and not be limited to a case synopsis, cancelled checks, losses, policy/policies, police reports, recorded interviews, witness statements and any other supporting documentation.

What is false reporting of a crime and what are the penalties for filing a false report?
The Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 16-10-26. False report of a crime
A person who willfully and knowingly gives or causes a false report of a crime to be given to any law enforcement officer or agency of this state is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Code 1933, 26-2509, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 983, 1, 2; Ga. L. 1969, p. 857, 11.)        

Answer: There are two parts to a typical homeowner's policy:

• Property coverage protects the home and contents plus losses for additional living expenses.
• Liability coverage protects you from lawsuits. The amount of home coverage should be at least 80% of the replacement cost of your home.

Coverage of the contents of your home is usually an amount equal to at least half of the structure coverage. To make filing a claim easier, you should keep an inventory of your possessions.

If you own rare or expensive items, consider purchasing special contents coverage in larger than standard amounts or a separate policy specifically covering those items.
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There's a lot more to know about homeowner's insurance and our agency for is ready to share that information with you.

The traffic light was such a good, necessary, idea that it was invented before cars and used to control the movement of pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. The first automatic, electric traffic light was invented and in use in the 1920s. Traffic lights borrowed their concept from railroad signals, originally using two colors; a third was added later. The intent of the signal colors was quite clear. Green meant "Go." Yellow meant "Caution." Red meant "Stop." Unfortunately, too many modern drivers think the following:

• Green means "Go"
• Yellow means "Go Faster"
• Red means "Keep Going"

Many drivers ignore the intent of traffic lights. They don't value their purpose to maintain a safe, effective traffic flow. Traffic lights that are operating normally are extremely effective. They can manage the flow of autos, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, busses, tractor-trailers and other self-propelled vehicles. Their effectiveness is diminished only by malfunction or by drivers who routinely decide to disobey the devices.

The problem is simple. Selfishness and self-interest often trumps safety. Different groups regularly poll drivers about their automobile operating habits. The answers reveal some interesting items:

• Many drivers routinely witness other drivers running red lights
• A significant number of drivers admit to running red lights themselves
• The most frequent reasons for running red lights were because the driver was in a hurry, followed by drivers not noticing the light
• Most drivers believe that traffic light violations are rarely punished
• A majority of drivers believe that the consequences of running a light are minor

Driver beliefs clash with reality. Running red lights cause serious problems. The practice leads to the number one reason for collisions and a leading source of traffic fatalities. The reason for the latter is that such accidents usually involve the front of one vehicle striking the side of another or a "T" collision. Vehicle safety devices and vehicle construction are ineffective in protecting persons whose cars are struck on their sides, especially if the other car has sped up to beat a red light.

Increasingly, towns and cities have turned to technology to help with the chronic problem. Traffic light cameras, though very expensive, are an effective way to reduce traffic light violations and intersection collisions. The cameras are triggered when an auto enters an intersection on a red light. It takes a photo of the vehicle's license plate and traffic tickets are sent to the owner. However, because of their expense, cameras can only be used on a limited basis.
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If you're on the road, make the decision that improves traffic flow, increases safety and reduces insurance costs…remember that red means "stop."

With hurricane season underway (June 1 to Nov. 30), the IRS is reminding taxpayers that criminals and scammers often try to take advantage of the generosity of business owners and others who want to help victims of major disasters.
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Fraudulent schemes normally start with unsolicited contact by telephone, social media, email or in person:

• Some impersonate charities to get money or private information.
• Fake websites use names similar to legitimate charities to trick people to send money or provide personal financial information.
• Others operate bogus charities and solicit money or financial information by telephone or email.

For additional information, see the June 7, 2018, IRS news release: With hurricane season underway, IRS warns of scams related to natural disasters.