But there's also an equitibilty element to that risk: it falls inordinantly on those who must drive, must drive long distances, and have no viable alternatives -- carpooling, transit, or remote work. Most impacted are delivery drivers (obviously), particularly those who use their own vehicles (e.g., pizza and other low-end delivery work), real estate agents, construction workers, service workers, rural residents generally, and those with nonstandard commute patterns, either off-peak, alternate-shift, multiple jobs, or highly-variable hours.
To the extent that these are workers often under-compensated for their work, and offering services benefiting society at large, the impacts are all the more inequitable. The risks are independent of actual driver safety practices and attentiveness.
Insurance is an inherently social function, one that's heavily regulated, and has specific exemptions to anti-trust regulations, in return for the benefits it provides. All business ultimately serves the public interest (or should -- an unpopular view but one expressed explicitly by Adam Smith), and should society determine that a specific public interest be served, then it has the legal authority to mandate and regulate those goals.
> there's also an equitibilty element to that risk...
You already said this, and while I'd like to see more data, I don't outright disagree with the premise that low-wage workers might drive more in personal vehicles.
And you didn't address my point that, if you think these workers should be subsidized, there are better, more direct ways than through insurance companies. Could be a minimum wage, tax credits for vehicles driven for work, better regulations around personal vehicles used for work.
I don't presently have access to the data. When I did, the relationships were informally noted, though a general relationship seemed to hold.
Looking for "commute distance vs. income" I'm not finding much by way of useful results, though a commute time by state/city (tracked by the US Census) is available. That conflates private vehicle vs. transit use (transit tends to take longer), and congestion vs. distance. For the most part, the data show longer times in urban and coastal states, and much shorter especially in the intermountain / western plains states.
... Except for the deep south, where you'll find both low incomes and long commute times.
That's very broad-scale data, but provides a hint of disparity.
But there's also an equitibilty element to that risk: it falls inordinantly on those who must drive, must drive long distances, and have no viable alternatives -- carpooling, transit, or remote work. Most impacted are delivery drivers (obviously), particularly those who use their own vehicles (e.g., pizza and other low-end delivery work), real estate agents, construction workers, service workers, rural residents generally, and those with nonstandard commute patterns, either off-peak, alternate-shift, multiple jobs, or highly-variable hours.
To the extent that these are workers often under-compensated for their work, and offering services benefiting society at large, the impacts are all the more inequitable. The risks are independent of actual driver safety practices and attentiveness.
Insurance is an inherently social function, one that's heavily regulated, and has specific exemptions to anti-trust regulations, in return for the benefits it provides. All business ultimately serves the public interest (or should -- an unpopular view but one expressed explicitly by Adam Smith), and should society determine that a specific public interest be served, then it has the legal authority to mandate and regulate those goals.