GUEST VIEW – A LETTER TO THE DMV

FROM: William Bonds, President

Danielle Philp, Education Director

EMPIRE SAFETY COUNCIL

DATE: October 1, 2013

 

TO: Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo , New York State Governor, The Executive Chamber

Barbara J. Fiala, Commissioner, NYS Department of Motor Vehicles

The Hon. Dean G. Skelos, Temporary Senate President, New York State Senate

The Hon. Sheldon Silver, Speaker, New York State Assembly

Dear Commissioner Fiala:

I am writing in opposition to the Internet-Point/Insurance Reduction Program (UI_PIRP”) five year pilot program to tell you in the most sincere and polite way possible, that internet courses are bad public policy and have many negative and unintended consequences. More importantly, internet driver safety courses alone have not demonstrated effectiveness in reducing accidents and repeat traffic offenses. It is appropriate and timely for me to write to you now as this program will sunset in May, 2014.

Article 12-C Section 399-0 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law (UV&TL”) states that within five years of implementation of the program, a report by the Commissioner is required to make recommendations to the Governor, Temporary President of the Senate and Speaker of the Assembly as to the future use of internet and other technologies as an effective way to deliver to the public approved accident prevention courses.

Insurance Law 2336 is the preeminent law that allows New York insurers to give discounts to private passenger and commercial automobile policies when the principal operator completes a NYS DMV approved accident prevention course. The Insurance Law directs the DMV to create an administrative framework to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of all approved accident prevention courses. Under the Insurance Lawall approved sponsors’ classroom and internet accident prevention courses are required to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department that their course, be it classroom or internet, shall have verifiable research documentation of effectiveness that is equivalent to the National Safety Council’s defensive driving course. There are currently fourteen approved sponsors’ classroom courses and each sponsor has submitted research to the Department’s satisfaction that their particular course is both effective in reducing accidents and repeat traffic violations equivalent to the National Safety Council. The Department’s research conducted by, Frank Connelly, study 1988-1989, covering then eight approved sponsors’ courses, concluded that all were effective in reducing accidents between approximately 16% to 21%, and each reducing repeat traffic offenses of approximately 50% to 60% for drivers who take and complete the 6-hour classroom course. Our particular classroom program has similarly submitted research conducted by Fred J. Rispoli, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Department of Mathematics, Dowling College, has demonstrated an 18.2% reduction in accidents and 57.3% reduction in repeat traffic offenses for students who take and complete our Council’s 6-hour classroom course. Parenthetically, our Council’s research results when compared to the Department’s research showed that our particular course is statistically significant in that we had the highest overall effective rate among all approved sponsors’ classroom courses. It is clear that all approved classroom courses have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the NYS DMV that all are effective in reducing accidents and repeat traffic offenses equivalent to the National Safety Council.

There is no verifiable proof of effectiveness that NYS DMV approved internet courses are in fact effective in reducing vehicle crashes and repeat traffic offenses. The U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Examination of Supplementary Driver Training and Online Basic Driver Education, Final Report (October 2010) study concludes that online courses alone are not effective in reducing crashes and have the potential for low student engagement. Only when combined with DTC (30 hours), classroom and practical experience, as an online Supplemental Study Guide with increased parental involvement was the online supplemental information effective in that the students using the online information generally scored higher on course exams and the driver’s test, but did not reduce crashes. NYS DMV approved internet courses do not require classroom participation or testing to pass the course and there is every expectation that students similarly will not be safer drivers and will also not have higher driver test scores since testing is not mandatory. The requirement that internet students score at least 75% on the final exam has been eliminated by all course providers. There is no approved internet course that requires students to pass an exam as a precondition to receiving a course completion certificate. There is also no requirement that internet courses prior to their approval submit proof of effectiveness in reducing accidents and repeat traffic infractions. It has been related to me, that the Department has hired a research vendor to do a blind research (no sponsors are identified) on all sponsors’ classroom course effectiveness and has concluded that the classroom courses have zero effectiveness, and that therefore, internet courses that have no research of proof of effectiveness will be approved without any proof of effectiveness whatsoever. To me this blind study is nothing more than a “black box;” it is not transparent, we do not know what’s in it, and it is in direct contradiction to research and proof of effectiveness previously conducted by your Department and research of proof of effectiveness submitted to the satisfaction of your Department that all approved classroom courses are in fact effective in reducing vehicle crashes and repeat traffic offenses. There certainly is a suspicion when there is secrecy. Was this research study done to allow internet courses to go forward when they should have been barred, because there is no verifiable research documentation of effectiveness? The answer to that question is unknown to me, however, when I recently asked one of your Department’s legal counsel about it, the response was “I don’t feel comfortable talking about that,” which has certainly raised many more questions about the efficacy of the research conducted and the motivation for such research in the first place. Needless to say, I was thunderstruck by that response. Regardless of the delivery methods chosen by your Department, all courses should comply with 2336 of the Insurance Law in that they submit to your Department verifiable research documentation prior to approval.

One of the unintended consequences of the internet program is that there are many unscrupulous companies using internet and home study technologies that make false and misleading claims to fool New York consumers and insurance companies into taking their unapproved courses that are not approved by your Department. The NYS DMV Part 141.4d of the Commissioner’s Rules and Regulation for Internet- Point/Insurance Reduction Program states: ADM course applicants must be an active sponsoring agency that has a classroom course approved by the Commissioner pursuant to Article 12-8 of the V& TL and Part 138. Unfortunately, for insurance companies allowing discounts for unapproved courses violates Section 2336(a), (d) of the Insurance Law and the companies will be subject to fines. Many of these scammers on the internet are companies that are approved sponsors and have one course approved but will sell another unapproved course and issue similar looking certificates and insurers routinely give discounts to those policyholders. These courses can be identified in some cases wherein their websites suggest that the consumers should check with their carriers to see if their consumer course is approved. These internet scammers make claims that it is up to the insurance companies whether or not they want to issue a discount and they have done nothing wrong. One approved sponsor had previously offered unapproved courses through Costco, sold thousands of courses and was later stopped by the Insurance Department in recent years. Its excuse then was that they did not sell the courses or violate the law, that Costco sold the courses. This same sponsor now has an unapproved home study computer course complete with DVD’s through another reseller that explicitly sells their course through socalled partnerships with some major New York insurance companies who provide a link to the unapproved course and which clearly states that it is for insurance reduction in New York. Our Council has filed an official complaint with the Insurance Department. This sponsor is a virtual serial abuser of our state insurance laws and your Department’s rules and regulations. Unbelievably, this serial offender makes the claim on its website that its course has earned The 2012 Safety Leadership Award and completers of their course experience a 30% reduction in vehicle crashes without any reference to any verifiable research documentation. Parents of teens are paying between 65-90 dollars to buy the DVD based on mendacious claims that their teen will qualify for approved discounts and will be safer drivers.

In another instance, an approved sponsor was offering insurance reduction for an unapproved internet course through a New York insurance company website saying its internet course is the same as their 6-hour course, but that it was reduced to 3-hours. Our Council made an official complaint to the Insurance Department who admonished the sponsor and demanded that the insurance company website eliminate the offering and/or make changes. When we checked the website about a month later the unapproved course was now an hour shorter than it previously was. Eventually, the insurance company involved removed the course and link provided. These unapproved “Avatar” courses will not pay fees to the Department of $8.00 for each student completion because they are not obligated to, and furthermore, there is the additional risk to the consumer because when an insurer finds out its course does not qualify for a discount, the discount may be reversed and good luck getting a refund of the tuition paid. These offending internet resellers and sponsors have said that it is the insurance companies that are breaking the law not us. These offending companies routinely made claims that it is up to the insurance companies whether or not they want to issue a discount and they have done nothing wrong. They are delusional if they think they are not in violation of the Department’s rules and regulations under Section 138, 141 and Insurance Law 2336. Bottom-line is insurance companies, insured’s and the state are caught in a squeeze play that has persisted for some time and which coincides with the approval and is arguably a direct result of the Internet-Point/Insurance Program.

I-PIRP is bad public policy because the User/Student Identity Validation technologies do not eliminate fraud since anyone can take the course for another person. We are acutely aware through our many internet resellers and classroom instructors that many students take courses for other individuals which defeat User/Student Identity Validation measures and sadly have been aided in doing so by many sponsors themselves. Most internet course providers are located out of state and therefore cost New York classroom instructors’ job loss and reduced incomes. Since students will not read the material provided because they know they do not have to take an exam at the end of the internet course; not having to take an exam will do nothing to motivate them to do anything but to simply click through to the next section and use their phone occasionally to call a phone number for User/Identity Validation and then hang up. Insurance rates will rise for everyone because internet courses are not effective in reducing accidents and repeat traffic infractions and every consumer of vehicle insurance in New York will pay for their discounts because they are not safer drivers. Lastly, internet courses are odious at best because they simply do not meet the publics’ expectations. For the reasons stated herein we urge you to discontinue the I-PIRP ADM program at this time.