Venting the Anger: CA Legislature has higher accident claims than national average

I don't know if this is funny or what, but in CA the Legislature would get to a car to use at the tax payers expense. They are looking at cutting that out or back. Anyway, the Sacramento Bee looked at the claims made by the CA Legislature and compared it to the national average. Here's what they found;

Of 122 claims lawmakers filed from 2006 through 2010, 59 involved what the insurance industry would consider collisions. For a fleet that ranged between 103 and 111 vehicles, that's about 11 collision claims each year per 100 vehicles. 

The national average for collision claims in 2008-10 was 7.5 per 100 passenger cars each year and 6.1 per 100 SUVs each year, according to Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president at the Highway Loss Data Institute, an insurance industry data center.

These are our elected officials getting in all of these accidents! How can this be?

Lawmakers are required to carry their own liability insurance for the personal use of the cars, but the state nonetheless paid three claims over the past five years that involved relatives of legislators driving the state car. 

• The state paid claims of $19,037 in 2006 after Maria Robles, wife of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, rear-ended another car in Núñez's state-issued car, causing injury. 

• The son of former Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, drove her car into oncoming traffic in 2006, causing an accident and $22,546.52 in damages. Garcia told the Orange County Register that her son was sick and she could not drive him home from the Capitol, where he was attending a ceremony with her. 

• The wife of Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, was driving him to an airport in the state-issued car and hit a disabled vehicle, causing a $32,678 claim.

So wait, why are we paying for relatives? That makes no sense. They are elected officials how come they get the perks? No wonder CA is screwed up.