Charlotte car insurance and using common sense are your two best assets while driving in Charlotte.

If you want to keep your Charlotte car insurance, leave the speeding to the race track.

Charlotte recently had the distinction of having their mayor Anthony Foxx be selected by President Obama as the next possible transportation secretary. Even though this is quite a distinction for the city, it has no bearing on the current traffic and insurance laws for drivers in Charlotte. Drivers in Charlotte still need to carry the minimum required insurance coverage and they still need to use common sense while behind the wheel.

Charlotte Traffic Laws

You would think that most traffic laws are common sense to most motorists, but there is always that select group of drivers that have a different definition of what common sense is. So just to be clear to the whole class, here are some Charlotte traffic laws to keep in mind while driving through this part of North Carolina:

Don’t pass a car that is stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the street

“The driver of a vehicle emerging from or entering an alley, building entrance, private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian, or person riding a bicycle, approaching on any sidewalk or walkway extending across such alley, building entrance, road or driveway.” (Charlotte Department of Transportation)

“It shall be unlawful for any person riding upon any bicycle, motorcycle, coaster, sled, roller skates, or any toy vehicle to attach such or himself to any streetcar or moving vehicle upon any roadway.” (Charlotte City Ordinance 14-4)

Beware the speeding cameras

Don’t mess with the parking meters and don’t try to use a fake coin substitute in them either

Required Charlotte Car Insurance

The car insurance requirements in the city of Charlotte are the same as they are in the entire state of North Carolina. Both liability coverage and uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist coverages are required to be able to drive. However, if a driver has just the basic liability limits on their vehicle then they only have to carry uninsured motorist coverage. But, if a driver carries more than the minimum required liability limits, then they have to carry both uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverages.

The minimum liability coverage you can legally drive with in North Carolina is:

• $30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage or one person
• $60,000 in bodily injury liability coverage total for the entire accident
• $25,000 for liability coverage to pay for damages you may cause to another person’s property

If you are confused as to what is required for Charlotte car insurance coverage, your agent will walk you through the whole procedure at the time you purchase your policy.

Fort Worth car insurance does more than just protects others from you; it also protects you from your own bad driving.

Fort Worth, Texas

Driving in Fort Worth, Texas is not a whole lot different than driving through the other large cities in the state. Fort Worth has the same insurance requirements and laws, as well as most of the same traffic laws. But drivers also need to be aware of the lesser known local laws that are enforced just as strictly as the statewide laws.

Car Insurance for Fort Worth

Because it’s the state that actually determines what kind and how much insurance is required for Texas drivers, there are no specific Fort Worth car insurance requirements. However, the Fort Worth Police Department does enforce the state insurance laws and will not hesitate to ticket you if you are not carrying at least the minimum required car insurance.

To avoid a no insurance citation, make sure you have no less than:

• $60,000 in bodily injury liability coverage that will cover the total costs for all medical bills if you injure two or more people in a car accident.
• $30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage that will cover the costs for the medical bills of a single person.
• $25,000 in property damage liability coverage for the damage you may do to another person’s property with your vehicle.

While these limits are actually decent compared to what other states require their drivers to carry, the state actually encourages their drivers to think about getting more than these minimal coverages to protect themselves in case they are sued for more than the amount of coverage they have. They also encourage drivers not to just stop with liability insurance, but to also carry other Fort Worth car insurance that would protect themselves and their vehicle.

Fort Worth Car Insurance Proof

When you buy Fort Worth car insurance, your insurance company sends you a proof-of-insurance card and electronic verification of coverage to the state. Your proof of insurance must be provided whenever you:

• Are pulled over and asked for it by a police officer
• Are in an accident
• Register or renew your car’s registration
• Get or renew your driver’s license
• Have your car inspected.

Penalties for not Having Fort Worth Car Insurance

If you do not purchase Fort Worth car insurance you will be in violation of Texas’ financial responsibility laws and will face the following penalities:

• A fine of $175 to $350 for your first offense
• Fines of $350 to $1,000, suspension of your driver’s license, and impoundment of your
• A $2,000 maximum fine, 180 days in jail, or both if you are caught without both car insurance and a driver’s license.
• A $4,000 maximum fine, one year in jail, or both if you cause a car accident and have no car insurance.

Traffic Fines in Fort Worth

In Fort Worth there is a traffic fine for just about everything, so driver beware. Keep your nose clean, your eyes ahead, your cell phone off and avoid doing any of the following:

• Fail to set your brake and leave your vehicle
• Start your vehicle “improperly” from a parked position
• Follow an ambulance
• Tow another vehicle or trailer without having mud flaps
• Have transparent material on your side or rear windows
• Drive below the minimum speed limit on the freeway
• Use your cell phone in a school zone
• Allow a child to ride in the bed of your truck

Fort Worth Construction Zones

Per the Star Telegram, four out of five people that are killed in a construction zone are the motorists themselves and not the construction workers. Last year 134 people were killed in construction zones, with the Texas Department of Public Safety attributing these accidents to speeding and inattentive driving.

Drivers need to realize that the traffic tickets in construction zones are much higher than they are in non-construction zones. Fort Worth drivers also need to understand that even though it is not illegal to use your cell phone in a construction zone, that you are putting your own life, as well as the construction worker’s lives in danger when you pay more attention to you cell phone than your driving.

Columbus car insurance is just one of many things that are required when driving in this city.

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus car insurance is required not only to protect others from your driving, but also to protect you from financial ruin from the expenses that can arise from a car accident that you cause. Other laws such as how wireless devices can be used while behind the wheel and being responsible after you cause a car accident are also there to protect others, as well as you from yourself.

Wireless Device Use in Columbus

Drivers of regular passenger cars and bus drivers in Columbus, Ohio are allowed to drive and talk on their cell phones. They can talk with or without using a hand-free device also. The only group restricted from talking on wireless devices is drivers under the age of 18.

Texting, however, is banned for all drivers.

Failing to Stop After a Car Accident in Columbus

Causing a car accident is bad enough, but to cause one and then leave the scene without accepting responsibility for your actions is even worse. In Columbus, like most other places, leaving the scene of an accident is illegal and can leave you with a first degree misdemeanor on your record.

To prevent this from happening use your common sense, and make sure you know what is expected of you in Columbus after an accident:

• Stop your motor vehicle and remain at the scene of the accident until you have exchanged contact, vehicle and insurance information with the other driver. Or have contacted the police in the event that one of the parties cannot exchange information.
• If you have hit another person’s property and the other person is not around, make every effort to contact the other person or leave your contact information in plain sight for the other person to find.

As well as being charged with a misdemeanor for not following the above laws after an accident, your driver’s license will also be suspended. If you kill or seriously harm a person and then leave an accident you will no longer be charged with a misdemeanor, it will instead be upgraded to a felony.

Columbus Car Insurance

All drivers in Columbus are required to follow the same insurance laws that are set for the entire state of Ohio, as the state of Ohio sets and regulates all insurance in the state. To be in compliance drivers must carry $12,500 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person, $25,000 in bodily liability coverage total that will be paid out for two or more people, and finally $7,500 in property damage liability coverage.

And honestly, the required coverages for the state of Ohio are so bare minimum that you will be lucky if your accident expenses are completely covered by these coverage limits. To make sure that you are protected from the high costs of another person’s medical bill and car repair costs, talk to your insurance agent about what would be the best coverages to have in your financial situation.

It’s best to have more Columbus car insurance coverage than you actually need, instead of being stuck with years of payments to pay off the expenses you are responsible for from a car accident.

Don’t think you can break the law just because you don’t see a cop around when driving in San Francisco.

The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The City of San Francisco is also its own county.  It is the only city in the entire state of California that is set up this way, but not the only one in the country – it is just rare to see it this way. San Francisco (the city) used to just be the county seat of San Francisco County when the county was much larger, until 1856 when county split in two and San Francisco County and city become one entity. The other part of county then changed to San Mateo County.

So there you go, now you know a little bit of useless trivia to awe your friends with.

But there is a point to explaining it also. With San Francisco being a city and its own county, it means that the traffic statistics are identical. So when you see that there have been 29 fatalities in the city and 29 total fatalities in the county, it isn’t because San Francisco is the worst city to drive in for that county. Actually, San Francisco is the only city to drive in for that county.

Beware San Francisco Traffic Cameras

San Francisco is taking its cue from the nearby Silicon Valley and is fully embracing the technological spirit when it comes to traffic enforcement. Just like other large cities, San Francisco is working to solve their red light running issue by installing red light cameras at the worst intersections for red light runners.

But, San Francisco has taken camera traffic enforcement even further by installing traffic cameras on their city buses.  What!?!

Yes, that’s right, their city buses are moving traffic cameras that actually video tape drivers breaking the law. But before you freak out about big brother watching us all the time, the bus cameras were installed to record a very specific traffic violation – those that illegally drive and park in the transit-only lanes.

Transit-only lanes are to help public transit go faster so that it is a viable option for people to use to get around. If vehicle drivers are using it as a free pass to get around other traffic or not have to find a parking spot, it slows the public transit down.

Those caught on camera driving in a transit-only lane get a $60 fine, and those caught being lazy and parking in a transit-only lane will get a $115 fine.

Minimum Insurance for San Francisco

No matter the city or county, insurance minimums are the same all over the state of California. All drivers are required to carry no less than $15,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for a single person, $30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for more than one person, and $5,000 in property damage liability coverage.

And insurance verification is done electronically in California. So don’t think that you can get away with not having it just because you have a greater chance of getting a ticket from a camera in San Francisco than an actual police officer that asks to see it when they pull you over.

No texting while driving will protect you from a ticket as much as having valid car insurance in Austin.

No texting in the Lone Star State’s capital of Austin.

There are just some cities that try to get things done faster than the rest of the state, and Austin, Texas is one of them. While Austin still abides by the statewide insurance laws without adding any of their own flair to them, they refuse to stand by and let drivers distracted by their cell phones continue to cause car accidents.

With the mounds of evidence piling up around the nation showing how dangerous texting is, you have to applaud Austin for being proactive about this and not wait for the state to step in and do something.

Austin Minimum Insurance Requirements

When driving through Austin, or any part of Texas for that matter, you need to be insured with no less than the following limits:

• $30,000 in bodily injury coverage for a single person for medical expenses
• $60,000 in bodily injury coverage for two or more people for medical expenses
• $25,000 in property damage coverage

These coverages are enforced statewide and are verified electronically by law enforcement through TexasSure. Police officers use this system to verify if you really do have insurance or not when they pull you over.

If you don’t have insurance, you could be seeing a fine from $175 to $1,000, as well as the impoundment of your car and the suspension of your license.

No Texting in Austin

The state of Texas is very lax in its cell phone laws. There are a small handful of laws that prohibit certain uses of your cell phone when driving, but no blanket wide ban. The following are the only cell phone restrictions in the state of Texas:

New drivers with permits are not allowed to use cell phones, unless it’s a hands-free device, the first 6 months they are driving.

Drivers under the age 18 are not allowed to use any wireless communication device.

School bus drivers are not allowed to use cell phones while driving, but only if children are present.

No driver is allowed to hold a cell phone and talk when in a school crossing zone.

Austin however, is one of 23 other cities in the entire state of Texas to ban texting while driving. So if you are used to texting while driving in other parts of the state you drive in Austin you need to do two things. First, you need to stop texting while driving no matter where you are. Illegal or not it is dangerous, and study after study has clearly shown this.

Second, don’t get caught texting in Austin unless you are prepared financially for the aftermath of getting pulled over.

(Texas Department of Transportation)