In my “History of American Transportation” class this spring at Emory University's Osher Institute—subtitled “From Clipper Ships to Rocket Ships”—all of the history of transportation can be summed up in five or six words: geology, westward, faster, money, and politics.

Geology controls ocean currents, fertile river valleys that made easy construction of canals and railways and, later, mountain passes in the West; canal barges were faster than wagons, and railroads faster than canals, etc. Many of these same principles apply to insurance claims as well.

If all a visitor to the U.S. ever saw was our network television, then he or she would think that our whole nation was nothing but car wrecks and plaintiff lawyers. Auto insurance is promoted like Kewpie dolls at the county fair: “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up, and get yer cheap auto insurance now!” Are we to assume that auto insurance is going to disappear or something?

Air was formerly the fastest way to travel, but no longer. By the time one drives to the airport, parks, figures out how to produce a boarding pass from a computerized gizmo, stands in a long line to clear TSA, walks a mile to the departure concourse, awaits a delayed departure or late-arriving crew while jammed into a seat designed for midgets, and does it all in reverse at the destination—perhaps after a change of flight somewhere half way across America—one could have bicycled to the destination faster in some instances. There is a story about a man on a slow train who complained to the conductor about how slow it was. “Well,” replied the conductor, “why don't you just walk?” The passenger replied, “I would, but nobody is expecting me until the train arrives!”

The Omniscient Automobile
The most popular long-distance travel is currently by automobile, which probably explains why auto insurance is hawked on TV and claims adjusters are kept employed handling wrecks. Nobody uses the back-road highways any longer; rather, they opt for the interstates. I have driven on just about all of them in the country, including the beltways, perimeters, and ring roads, and if any reader not residing in Boston New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Miami, Dallas, Chicago or Los Angeles thinks his or her I-Whatever is clogged and frantic, then he or she has not been anywhere else.

While bumper-to-bumper trucks, SUVs, and RVs race along the interstates, parallel old four-lane highways, like US-19 between Atlanta and mid-Florida, are practically empty. In 2010 a number of high-speed, or at least higher speed rail projects were proposed by the administration. Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida governors rejected their federal allotments, so the money went to more progressive states. California had already approved a high-speed line, but the recession's impact on that state's finances has temporarily derailed implementation, despite California collecting the dough that was intended to go to Ohio and Florida.

Ohio has three Amtrak trains, but all of them go through the state in the middle of the night, providing no local service. Once that state had hundreds of passenger trains, and the Twentieth Century Limited often hit 120 miles per hour west of Toledo. That is no more. Amtrak's “high speed” Acela averages about 75 miles per hour between Boston and Washington D.C. Allegro is a musical term for fast and lively; it is also the name of a new 137-mph rail service between Helsinki, Finland, and St. Petersburg, Russia. The U.S. fusses over the price of gasoline, but won't spend a penny on mass transit. So, I guess, auto insurance is here to stay!

The Bloviators
By the time this reaches publication the GOP primaries should be about finished, although the two or three candidates still running will be battling it out until the Tampa Convention. After that the two party candidates will spend the next few months bloviating at each other until blessed relief in November. Meanwhile, Congress will dither and procrastinate, accomplishing the same thing they accomplished in 2011—essentially nothing. We cannot, however, blame anyone but ourselves. We elected them, right?

The new Affordable Health Care Act will be one of the prime topics for debate between the Democrats and the Republicans, unless the Supreme Court has declared the whole thing unconstitutional by then. So one question remains: If mandatory health insurance is deemed unconstitutional, then what about mandatory auto liability insurance for interstate truck lines? (It has always interested me that truck lines use the Interstates, but I never see a truck line's maintenance crew out repairing the roadway. The FAA controls airlines; cities build airports; but the railroads have to fix their own lines and pay taxes on them as well.)

Faster Claims Service
TV insurance ads that aren't based on lizards, Paul Revere, or some other silly thing may occasionally mention “faster claims service.” (One ad in the February issue of Claims spoke of “the speed you need to run your insurance agency….” Agency? What, the agent is going to handle the claim?) The 21st century contractor repair and approved body shop claims servicing entities do work fairly well, but only for the minor (or perhaps that is the majority) of claims. In a major wreck, tornado, flood, or fire, expect delay. Not only might the insurer be dispatching assistance from hundreds of miles away, where the adjusters will have little or no familiarity with local services, contractors, codes or statutes, but also the power may be out for weeks, agent records in disarray, or access to the loss and to repair materials limited.

Attorneys often use the phrase, “time is of the essence” in their communications and contracts. Yes. Time can be an “essence,” another definition of which is an odor, as time and delay make things, including claims and food in unpowered refrigerators, stink. Delay is not a covered peril. If the insured or claimant hires a lawyer or a public adjuster, then he or she can expect some delay. Just don't expect to hear about that in the TV ads.

So “faster” anything—be it trains or claims services in a disaster—represents a long-term goal. Except for short runs or small claims, it is a dream of what might be, but not yet is. Just as the supersonic airliner Concorde was faster than a clipper ship, when either suffered a casualty, the insurance claims took time to properly investigate, evaluate, and resolve. This was true in 1812, and is just as true in 2012.

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&lsquo;Fast&rsquo; is Only a Dream

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