Drive less, get a bigger break on your car insurance.
That's the goal of new regulations proposed by State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner .
He says as early as next year, insurance companies will be able to offer customers the option of reduced rates for cutting back on the time they spend behind the wheel.
Poizner says that would benefit the whole state:
Poizner: We can reduce the amount of pollution that's emitted form cars, we can reduce the total number of traffic accidents that occur in the state of California and we can reduce the amount of gasoline that's consumed by the state of California.
The Environmental Defense Fund estimates if one-third of Californians take part in the new program, it would eliminate 55-million tons of C-O-2 by 2020. That's like taking 10-million cars off the road.
The program would be optional.
Drivers who take part will have to prove they're actually spending less time in the car by sending odometer readings or auto repair records.
Currently rates are based in part on drivers' estimates of how much they drive - which can be inaccurate.
