With the economic situation the past few years, I'm surprised that we haven't heard more about staged accidents by people desperate for money.

I'm not sure I'd agree that individuals are necessarily going to be more targeted for scams like these. Businesses generally have the deeper pockets, bigger insurance policies, therefore a bigger potential pay out. Any small business owner that deals with the public on their premises is acutely aware of the chance of being bankrupted by something like a slip 'n fall or other "accident". My parents were lucky that they never had to deal with it over 40 years of running a restaurant.

Just my opinion, but one area where individuals might be targeted more often as people get desperate is staged driving accidents, like being set up to rear end a scamster. I always try to keep a decent following distance from the car in front of me since once you plow into someone, regardless of what the other car does, you're very vulnerable legally. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in Southern California, people drive very close to the car in front of them even at high speed. It's particularly noticeable on the freeway. I'm surprised that more people don't get rear ended or in horrible chain reaction accidents on the freeways every day. It's a dumb reaction by most people who simply don't want someone cutting in front of them and somehow "getting ahead" of them.

People don't realize how dangerous that habit is. Cars these days are more powerful and can easily go faster. Plus we're all busy, impatient folk. So people drive faster but leave less space in front of them. Madness.