The bean counters at ICBC headquarters are still in shock after getting saddled with $1.3 billion in red ink.
These days their focus is on strategies designed to avoid a similar fiscal debacle in the future. But will those measures be enough to alter the behaviour of a growing number of drivers who appear to have a complete disregard for the rules of the road?
In 2012, ICBC recorded 260,000 crashes. Four years later that number spiked to 330,000. To help stem the rising tide of settlements, the insurance provider is contemplating caps on soft-tissue injury claims, more red light cameras, tougher penalties for high-risk driving and various other reforms.
According to ICBC, in 2016 speed was a factor in 30 per cent of fatal crashes, followed by distraction at 28 per cent and impairment at 22 per cent.
It is conceivable that many of those distracted and impaired drivers were speeding as well, resulting in a causal factor double whammy. And excessive speed was also the culprit in numerous nonfatal accidents.
Although it won’t fix all the problems faced by the insurer, a compelling option is photo radar speed enforcement.
Besides reducing crashes, a portion of the money collected from tickets could go to the municipalities where the equipment is deployed, and the rest could end up in the ICBC account to help cover operating deficits.
Many European countries, including Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, and Switzerland, have successfully deployed photo radar for years. South of the border 143 communities are using speed cameras.
The Ontario provincial government recently gave municipalities the green light to install Automated Speed Enforcement technology in school zones and designated community safety zones. Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta all have effective photo radar setups.
The mayor of Moose Jaw said the program in his community slowed traffic down in some high volume areas, especially around school zones. In Edmonton, an urban traffic safety report revealed when the number of photo radar generated tickets increased severe crashes declined. Dr. Louis Francescutti, an emergency and preventative medicine physician at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, has seen his share of motor vehicle carnage. He says the biggest problem with photo radar is there's not enough of it.
Two years ago, BC health officer Dr. Perry Kendall released a comprehensive report on road safety. He linked a spike in traffic fatalities to the decision to scrap the provincial photo radar program in 2001.
The BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, a leader in injury prevention knowledge dissemination, reports that motor vehicle collisions cost the health-care system somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8.8 billion per year.
Recently, BC Ministry of Public Safety announced red light cameras would be upgraded to crack down on speeders at dangerous intersections. Now the provincial government needs to muster the political will to reinstate photo radar on thoroughfares across the province.
