[legion]

I'd like to clear up some insurance conspiracy theories.

I interned in the actuary division of an insurance company for a year in college. (I no longer work for that company and am not an actuary so my knowledge is a little dated.) I learned some interesting things. For example, the single factor that has the highest correlation with likelihood to file a claim is credit score. Number of speeding tickets is pretty far down on the list, until you hit three speeding tickets in year. The correlation there is pretty high all of the sudden, yet still not as high as credit score.

I think there are other factors that probably have a much higher correlation with likelihood of filing a claim (because of causing an accident), like aggressive driving and left lane vigilantism, but the ONLY thing cops ever write tickets for is speeding. Therefore, it is the ONLY data insurance companies have to go on.

The insurers I have personally worked with have not done things like funding LIDAR, though GEICO is not a company I have ever worked with. One that I know awards grants for redesigning unsafe intersections...