23/07/2017
I do not know why but it still amazes me of the complete stupidity of the BC Liberals and of those MLA's that fly under their political flag.
The reason we are left in the mess with ICBC is the fact that for 16 years the BC Liberals have used the insurance corporation as their own personal slush account.
Yearly, the former government would remove what they called a premium on behalf of the taxpayers of BC, robbing the corporation of money that should have been used to offset future claims and costs.
Before any rate hikes are even thought of the money stolen by the previous government from the ratepayers of ICBC must be paid back.
Also under the BC Liberals they overpaid their own patronage appointed executives salaries and bonuses for doing the governments bidding.
Let's reduce the salaries of the top ICBC executives by 15% in 5 % intervals over the next three years and eliminate any potential for bonuses until the corporation is seeing a dividend in reduction to rates for drivers.
The past government's atrocious financial mishandling leads me to a suspicious conclusion as to why they would allow one of the best insurance systems to fall into such a disarray.
My suspicion is that they have been getting campaign contributions and lobbying from the private insurance companies to open up ICBC's exclusive rights to basic insurance.
Thankfully we have a new government that will take the necessary steps to restore ICBC to it's proper place of providing reasonably costs for vehicle insurance tor the people of BC.
If bringing back photo radar, installing more red light cameras and hiring more investigators to ensure claims are legitimate help us achieve a better bottom line then so be it.
Photo radar is a cash cow only if people are stupid enough to keep breaking the law.
I have no sympathy for them.
I would rather have them installed and use the police resources elsewhere in areas to reduce crime and contributions to community outreach.
With regard to raising premiums, those who want to drive exotic and expensive cars ( mostly designed for excessive speed) that require a lot of money to fix can pay the correct premium rates for the privilege of driving them.
The scales of insurance should be based on the outcome of fixing the vehicle if it's damaged or capped at a reasonable rate if the person does not want to pay higher premiums.
Either way it will improve the corporations bottom line when they they do get into an accident their fault or otherwise as the costs are capped and increased rates will recover the rest.
Those who commit accidents or receive too many vehicle violations should also bear the brunt of increased premiums to either help them change their behavior or remove them from the road entirely.
Driving is a privilege extended to drivers based on their basic habits and observance of road safety practices, not a God given right.
A third component that was not discussed in the article not been but should be, is that the area of cyclists and motorized vehicles ( non- motorcycles) such as mopeds and bicycles.
A law should be brought in to licence all users of our roads including those commuting to work using the bike lanes.
With the increased amount of bike lanes being built comes with it also the increased hazards of having bikes and motor vehicles having potential accidental interactions.
It is just as important to regulate cyclists using our roads as it is motor vehicle drivers as their own safety is not just at stake but that of motorists sometimes having to swerve to avoid hitting them and causing damage to their vehicle or other vehicles as a result.
Cyclist should have insurance in case they are the cause of an accident that involves a pedestrian or a motor vehicle.
Their should be a levy on the purchases of new bicycles that would be used to pay the cost of running a program to register and license all bicycles including those who are that children are riding.
Further in order to ride on a public road a yearly purchase of a bike registration license/decal would have to be paid to ICBC or face the prospect of fines if not.
I think if these things are implemented then we can have a safer, more harmonized use of our roads and a reduced rate of accidents in the future.
Something that would never be achieved under the BC Liberals.
VICTORIA — B.C. motorists will get hit with auto insurance rate hikes of almost 30 per cent in the next two years if the government doesn’t massively overhaul ICBC’s basic insurance sys…
