When it comes to identifying bad drivers, most people have an easy answer: “It’s everybody on the road except me.”
Unfortunately, saving ICBC will require a more systematic approach. As Attorney General David Eby tries to extinguish what he called a “financial dumpster fire” at the Crown corporation, he is looking for public input on how to correct the current situation, where too many high-risk drivers aren’t paying enough.
ICBC is paying out more money than it brings in, and expects a $1.3-billion loss by the end of the fiscal year. Eby said drivers could face premium increases of about $400 or more if no action was taken.
Taking action could mean such things as making it harder to get and keep a safe-driving discount, limiting a driver’s ability to pay for vehicle damage without making a claim, increasing penalty points for those with serious convictions, raising premiums for drivers with repeated minor convictions and a host of other changes.
Even if he or she hasn’t had an accident recently, someone who speeds, drives while distracted and runs red lights is a crash waiting to happen — they are high-risk.
The government wants ICBC to be less forgiving. Today, a driver can cause one crash without seeing any impact on insurance premiums if he or she has had no claims in the previous 13 years. That could be raised to 20 years of accident-free driving. And after a crash, it would take 10 years to restore the safe-driver discount, instead of three.
Putting out the dumpster fire will take more than one reform, but it’s fundamentally fair that high-risk drivers should pay more than low-risk drivers.
