The author is not a reporter but the VP at the ARC Advisory Group. Here are their clients : https://www.arcweb.com/about/clients. (Exxon, BP, Mobile, Shell, etc. )
https://www.lendingtree.com/insurance/brand-incidents-study/
I don't know why you would seemingly discredit the messenger but eschew from the main point that Tesla drivers have the highest accident rate.
The results should of course be taken for what they are, but the motives of the author are not insignificant.
ARC is paid by oil companies to write articles that make their position appear to be newsworthy. They are very upfront about article generation: http//www.arcweb.com/consulting-services/marketing-communications