Page Four
Into Law: Lower Insurance Rates for Males
The controversial new insur
ance law that bans the use
of age and sex in computing
automobile insurance rates in
North Carolina went into
effect December 1, 1977. The
bill will:
• Stop charging male drivers
under 25 and their families
higher rates than other drivers.
The rates now twice those
charged young women and
adults are based on group
driving records as well as an
individual's record.
• Peg all rates to the use of
the car, the driver's experience
and driving record. And to a
lesser degree, where he lives.
• Increase surcharges on
drivers who violate traffic laws
that cause wrecks.
• Enforce a new schedule of
insurance points that will stiffen
punishment for violations for
the first-time charge for minor
offenses, such as running a
stop sign and wrecks with
damage under S2OO, in which
the insured is negligent.
• Double the basic rate for
all new drivers with fewer than
two years experience, whether
they are 16, 36 or 66 years
old.
• Apply standard surcharges
on collision and comprehensive
insurance as well as liability.
Tutoring Center
Do you need help in any ol
your courses? The Guilford
College Student Tutorinc
Center may be able to provide
the help you are looking for
Student tutors are availabli
in nearly ail subject areas. T
obtain a tutor all you need to
do is go to the Tutoring
Center located in the basement
of the Library, or call exten
sion 253, and talk with the
coordinator on duty. After
determining what type of help
you need, the coordinator will
contact a tutor for you. The
tutor will then contact you.
This service is free to all
main campus and Urban
Center students.
The Tutoring Center hours
are as follows:
Monday 9:00-12:00, 12:30-
5:00, 6:00-7:00
Tuesday 9:00-12:00, 12:30-
3:30
Wednesday 9:00-12:00, 2:00-
5:00, 6:00-7:00
Thursday 9:00-11:00, 12:00-
3:30
Friday 9:00-12:00
In addition to tutoring, the
Center also maintains a
collection of books and hand
outs on study skills and skills
in the areas of reading and
writing.
For many, this will further push
up the cost of traffic violations.
(Liability insurance is
compulsory in North Carolina.
It pays for damages your car
causes to other cars and
people. Collision insurance,
which is not required pays for
damages you cause to your
car. Comprehensive insurance
is also optional and pays for
theft, fire and storm damage
to your car.)
North Carolina Insurance
Commissioner John Ingram
has said that December Ist
was a red-letter day in his
career. Ingram made two
major commitments when he
first ran for Insurance Commis
sioner back in 1972, and that
was to eliminate North
Carolina motorists being
cancelled in this state with
the Reinsurance Facility to
eliminate age and sex discrim
ination in insurance in the
Tarheel State.
The change shifts a portion
of the $400,000,000 paid
annually for automobile insur
ance from young male drivers
to drivers with bad driving
records.
For those males under-25,
the changes will be a boom.
(An example: basic liability
costs for a young Charlotte
man with a clean driving record,
who now pays $219 a year,
will drop to $77 if he drives
to work fewer than 10 miles
on*" way.)
Families with a young male
drier have paid substantially
for insurance than a
.a. lily with a young female
driver, even if the parents
violated a traffic law. Sur
charges for violations are
assigned to the family d'iver
with the highest premium
Males under 25 now pay ;yvo
and one half times the -at.-
of young women and adult..
"If they had a young son
they paid $700," John Ingram,
Insurance Commissioner, said
of a parent who got convicted
of drunken driving. "If they
had a young daughter, they
paid $184."
Banning age and sex
considerations in automobile
insurance rates has been a
prolonged and bitter struggle
between Commissioner Ingram
and the State's insurance
industry.
The insurance industry
opposed the concept with
equal fervor, contending the
rates were fair, because
young males as a group caused
twice as many accidents as
other drivers. Industry officials
say those wrecks are twice as
The Guilfordian
costly as those caused by
adults.
Ingram was able to keep
the ban on age and sex
discrimination alive in the 1977
General Assembly through
the help of other concerned
members of that party, even
though the 1977 General
Assembly stripped Ingram of
most of his authority to
regulate insurance rates at
what Ingram terms fair for
North Carolina citizens.
Ingram maintains the
under-25 male drivers aren't as
accident-prone as insurance
companies would have the
citizens of North Carolina
believe. He says, "Less than
10 percent of the people under
25 have been causing wrecks,
so 90 percent have been
surcharged and penalized for
what the others have been
doing.
The battle over the new
classification plan is not over.
Ingram said his staff believes
the inexperienced driver
surcharge should be S3O
rather than S7O, and that other
issues will be debated when
the hearings on the plan
resume this spring.
Attitudes Change,
Laws Follow
By CAROLINE COLES
Attitudes toward the use of
marijuana are changing
amazingly and laws,
although dragging, are fallow
ings suit. The Michigan Court
of Appeals came up with this
decision concerning a police
officer's failure to mention
his infrequent smoking of
marijuana on an application:
"Were we to similarly treat
others who, if known, have on
occasion in their youth smoked
marijuana, illegally drank
liquor either during prohibition
or while under age or in after
hours situations, engaged in
•>n illegal Saturday night
(oker game . . . the ranks of
:.ie police force and other
mportant public service groups
- :ight well be significantly
reduced! Nevertheless, such
actions are often youthful in
descretions and usually should
be considered as such."
But then what do you do
about Guy Henry Turner, a 90
year old hermit-sage type that
has been arrested for posses
sion and attempt to sell
marijuana? Turner says "I'm
not worried, to hell with their
laws." The embarrassed court
seems to feel much the same
way. What are they going to
say, "what are the old people
of today coming to?"
Opportunities to Work in Europe
Work this summer in the
\
forests of Germany on con
struction in Austria, on
farms in Germany, Sweden
and Denmark, in industries
in France and Germany, in
hotels in Switzerland.
Well there are these jobs
available as well as jobs in
Ireland, England, France, Italy,
and Holland are open by the
consent of the governments
of these countries to American
university students coming to
Europe the next summer.
For several years students
made their way across the
Atlantic through A.E.S.-Service
to take part in the actual life
of the people of these count
ries. The success of this
project has caused a great
deal of enthusiastic interest
and support both in America
and Europe. Every year, the
program has been expanded
to include many more students
and jobs. Already, many
students have made applica
tion for next summer jobs.
American-European Student
Service (on a non-profitable
basis) is offering these jobs to
students for Germany,
Scandinavia, England,
Austria, Switzerland, France,
Italy, and Spain. The jobs
consist of forestry work, child
care work (females only), farm
work, hotel work (limited
number available), construction
work, and some other more
qualified jobs requiring more
specialized training.
The purpose of this program
is to afford the student an
opportunity to get into real
living contact with the people
and customs of Europe. In this
way, a concrete effort can be
made to learn something of
the culture of Europe. In
return for his or her work, the
wpj' Intercristo
tfJSjP Bo 9323 Snallle WA 98109
& 800. 426 0507 lolllree
February 7,1978
student will receive his or her
room and board, plus a wage.
However, student should keep
in mind that they will be work
ing on the European economy
and wages will naturally be
scaled accordingly. The
working conditions (hours,
safety, regulations, legal
protection, work permits) will
be strictly controlled by the
labor ministries of the countries
involved.
Please write for further
information and application
forms to: American-European
Student-Service, Weile
133, Box 70, FL 9493 Mauren,
Liechtenstein (Europe).
f 1
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■trade.
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