Ohio Booster Seat Law

Back in October the Ohio lawmakers put into law a requirement for children to be in vehicle booster seats until a child is 8 years old or 4 feet, 9 inches tall. The prior law was if a child was 4 or under and weighted less than 40 lbs they had to be in a federal approved car seat. After that, they were free to sit in a car with out any aid.

This new law that was past also had a grace period that lasted until this past April but now that the grace period is over tickets are starting to be handed out along with a fine. Fines can range from $25 to $75 per incident. One thing to note, this citation is a secondary offense which means you can’t be pulled over just for violating the booster seat law. You would first have to be pulled over for some other violation.

The reason for this change is that seatbelts, if a child is not in a booster seat, can cause serous injury to children less than 8 years old or smaller than 4 feet, 9 inches. The booster seat helps to place the seatbelt in a safer position on the child.

National Flood Program Expired... Again

On May 31st Congress allowed the national flood program to expire once again. As of today, June 10, 2010, there has been no renewal of the flood insurance program. This is a key issue especially since a number of areas in Ohio are being resurveyed and rezoned on the national flood insurance map. Homes that were once in Zone C or X which mean they are not in a 100 year flood zone are now being classified as a Zone A or other Zone which puts them in a 100 year flood zone.

What is the significant of this? Well, if you own a home in the rezoned area that is now in a 100 year flood zone and your home has a mortgage on it, you will be required by the bank or other lending institution to purchase flood insurance. A lot of times this can be a costly policy.

What happens if you don’t buy a flood policy? The mortgage company will purchase it for you and then bill you. Unfortunately there is no way around it as long as you have a mortgage on the property.

The ironic thing about this whole situation is that right now, as of the day this blog entry was written, you can not purchase flood insurance. Flood insurance is purchased through the national flood program (FEMA) and as mentioned above the program is temporarily expired. We will be sure to keep you posted on our blog as to when the program might be back up and running. In the mean time if you have received notice from your bank that you are now in a flood zone and must purchase flood insurance feel free to get in touch with your friendly Fey Insurance Representative.

Police Officer's Visual Estimate of Speeding

Ohio Supreme Court passed a new ruling 5-1 saying that a police officer’s “unaided visual estimation of a vehicle’s speeding” is strong enough to support giving out a speeding ticket to drivers. No long do they have to actually have a speed detector prove that you were speeding. The only criteria that has to be met for officers to be able to estimate that a person was speeding is that they have to be trained and certified by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy or a similar organization.

We mention this in our blog post today because speeding tickets can often have an adverse affect on your auto insurance premium. Companies can charge surcharges for speeding violations. Some companies can even cancel your insurance if you have too many speeding violations.

So, now more than ever it is important to be mindful of your speed as you drive. All a police officer has to do is feel that you are speeding and you can be pulled over and handed a ticket and fine.

Building Ordinance Coverage

This endorsement provides coverage if the enforcement of any building, zoning or land use law results in added cost that are not covered as a direct loss.

The endorsement is separated into three distinct parts: section A, B and C, which typically allows the policyholder to purchase one or all of these valuable coverages.

SECTION A applies to loss to the undamaged portion of the building. This endorsement covers the loss of value of the undamaged portion of a building caused by enforcement of ordinance or laws.

If a government agency requires the demolition of your entire building because the damage exceeds a certain percentage as detailed in their ordinances, this coverage would apply.

Without this endorsement, you would have no coverage for the part of the building that was not damaged because that part of the building had not suffered “direct damage.”

SECTION B of this endorsement covers the cost of demolition of the undamaged portion of the building. Without this coverage, you could be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in demolition and disposal costs.

SECTION C provides payment for the increased cost of construction if the code enforcement requires improvements to construction that were not in the original building. This coverage will pay these increased costs whether constructions is at the same location or another location, with some restrictions.

The building ordinance endorsement requires that you purchase coverage equal to 80 percent of the property’s replacement cost value. This is an optional coverage. For more detail please call your friendly Fey Insurance Services representative.

Safeguard Your Home from Burglary

In 2007, the last year with full statistics, there were an estimated 2.2 million burglaries, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Burglaries represent more than 22 percent of property crimes committed in 2007, and of these burglaries, 61 percent involved forcible entry. Burglary offenses represented $4.3 billion in losses, an average of nearly $2,000 per burglary, and nearly 68 percent of burglaries were residential.

Surprising to many is that nearly 64 percent of burglaries occurred during the daytime. Below are some suggestions that should help you from becoming a statistic:

- Keep exterior views of your home unobstructed and trim landscaping back to expose windows and doors. This requires a burglar to work in full view and poses a serious risk of detection.

-Maintain adequate exterior lighting at access points to your home.

-Put your ladder away. Do not provide easy access for the burglar to gain entrance.

-Do not keep valuables, such as bicycles and tools, in the open.

-Keep your garage door closed and locked. An open garage door allows a crook to see valuables stored in your garage.

-Make sure your house number is prominently displayed and illuminated to help emergency responders find your home quickly.

-Do not leave notes on your door that might indicate your home is unoccupied.

Redefining Tornado Alleys

This was recently published on Discovery News.

By John D. Cox Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:11 AM ET
It may come as little surprise and no comfort to survivors of the weekend tragedy in Mississippi, but recent research confirms that they are living in the most dangerous region in the most dangerous tornado country in the world."Tornado Alley" is an unofficial term traditionally used to describe a vaguely outlined swath of countryside from the deep south, through the southern plains and into the upper Midwest, but the label really doesn't tell you very much. New research on display recently at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, DC adds new levels of detail and potential usefulness to the term. The analysis identifies four distinct regions in the eastern half of the US as worthy of the tornado alley label.Michael Frates, a graduate assistant at the University of Akron in Ohio, devised the new boundaries and a more nuanced set of "Tornado Alleys" by analyzing the spatial distribution of F3 to F5 tornadoes with tracks greater than 20 miles in the Central and Eastern US from 1950 to 2006. The output of that work is spread across grid of more than 3,000 cells across the region.Each cell was then given a different "frequency value" depending on the frequency of tornadoes with intersected the unit, and out of this process came "major spatial patterns, which served as the basis for delineating new tornado alleys," as shown on his map.

"Results from this analysis indicate that Dixie Alley has the highest frequency of long-track F3 to F5 tornadoes, making it the most active region in the United States," Frates concluded. Dixie Alley had a frequency value of 2.92, followed by Tornado Alley (2.59), Hoosier Alley (2.37) and Carolina Alley (2.00)."Based on this analysis," wrote Frates, "colloquial tornado alley fails to represent the areas of highest activity in the United States," a subject he suggested the National Weather Service might want to take up.For what it is worth, computer models saw the potential for tornadoes and other severe weather across a large region several days in advance as a cold storm system rolled in from the West toward the warm moisture of the Gulf. The first major outbreak of tornadoes arrived unusually late this spring, probably because El Nino conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean have held the subtropical jet stream at a more southerly latitude than normal for this time of year.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Michael Frates, University of Akron.

Your Duties in the Event of a Loss

As a condition of coverage, your property policy requires certain things of you in the event you have a loss. These are conditions that must be met by the policyholder in order for the insurance company to pay for the loss.

· Prompt notice of loss must be given to the company or their agent.
· In the event of a loss by theft, the policy must be notified.
· If the loss falls under the additional coverages section for the credit card or fund transfer card, the appropriate bank or credit card company must be notified.
· The property must be protected from further damage. If this requires the insured to make reasonable and temporary repairs to protect the property, accurate records must be kept of the repair expenses.
· The policyholder has a duty to cooperate with the insurer in the claim investigation.
· The policyholder must prepare an inventory of the damaged or lost personal property. The description, quantity and value must be listed in the inventory, and documentation such as receipts, bills or related documents should be included if available.
· The policyholder must make the damaged property available for inspection by the insurance company, provide the requested records and documents and permit the insurer to make copies.
· Following a loss, a policyholder must complete the Proof of Loss form. This proof of loss statement must be signed and sworn.

Of course, you are not left to your own devices to complete these duties. There will be help and guidance from the adjuster, and we are always available to help you with your claim.