Drive in Mississippi? Brace for auto insurance hikes

Auto insurance rates could be going up, according to Mississippi's insurance commissioner.

Mississippi leads the nation in vehicle repair costs, and the frequency of automobile accidents and fatalities are up on Mississippi roads. At the same time, enforcement on state and federal roads and highways is down.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told The Sun-Herald in April that based on that criteria, he expected to see insurance carriers requesting increases between 10 percent and 20 percent in the next few months.

Joe Woods, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America's vice president of state government relations, said he doesn't expect to see rates go up that fast, but that repair costs have gone up 16 percent in recent years. He said Mississippians desperately need to be aware of the rising cost and frequency of wrecks in the state.

"Many of those are attributable to distracted driving, poor seat belt usage in the state, and the drunk driving rates are really, really bad news for the state," Woods said. "We're trying to bring more information on how we can cut back on this increase on numbers of wrecks."

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There has been almost a 10 percent increase in crashes since the beginning of the year compared to last year according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Three out of every 10 fatal crashes in Mississippi involve drunk driving. In spite of the millions of dollars put into public awareness campaigns, those just continue to happen, Woods said. In addition Mississippi's anti-texting and driving legislation is weak. Those issues coupled with many motorists' unwillingness to use a seat belt are causing the rise in wrecks and fatalities, he said.

"It’s a multifaceted problem and needs multifaceted solutions," Woods said. "It’s going to take increased public perception, more enforcement from the police, and a much stronger law from the Legislature."

The enforcement facet becomes an issue when officer numbers are low.

State statute allows MHP to have up to 650 troopers, but currently there are only 475 working right now. Those numbers decrease to 201 troopers who work the roads,  which is cut in half when factoring in shifts and days off.

In 2015 there were 48 graduates of the trooper school. MHP Spokesman Johnny Poulos said since that time, 86 troopers have retired or resigned.

There are 807 interstate miles in Mississippi, and 10,093 miles of state and U.S. highways. If all the road troopers were out at once, that’s one trooper for every 54 miles, said Poulos.

In the Brookhaven district, for instance, there are nine counties. It is home to I-55, U.S.  61, 98, 84 and 51, and numerous smaller state highways. Only 13 troopers are assigned to that area because of MHP's low numbers.

"Traffic safety is our number one mission, but loss of life and the injuries we’re experiencing on the roadways, it’s not slowing down. The numbers are increasing, and it’s affecting everyone in the state of Mississippi financially now," Poulos said. "You’d think loss of life would really make people think when it comes to driving, but those numbers keep increasing anyway. Now it looks like it could actually take money from every policyholder in the state."

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Andy Case, the consumers services director in the insurance commissioner's office, said there are 38 hours of traffic delay per vehicle in the Jackson area alone, which translates into 12.3 million hours a year. In addition, 51 percent of Mississippi roads are in poor to mediocre condition, and 21 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

Plus people are traveling more in recent years, Case said. Therefore, more miles traveled, more accidents, more fatalities, higher costs.

Case said the body labor rate has increased 55 percent since 2010, the frame repair rate has increased 80 percent, and the paint rate has increased almost 100 percent.

"The only market that was close to some of our markets was downtown New York," he said.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.