Have You Been Directly Affected by a Collision Lately?

I often ask if anyone has been directly affected by a collision in the past year when I am making a presentation to a group. I can see people thinking about it and then a few hands may tentatively rise. My answer usually surprises them and it may surprise you as well.

About 80% of the premiums that ICBC collects each year are paid out again to settle collision claims. If you are like me, we pay just over $500 per year for our basic insurance. That means we have paid at least $400 per year directly out of our pockets for collisions whether we were in one or not!

Recently ICBC announced plans to increase the penalties for drivers who do not follow the traffic laws. This idea was immediately met with howls of protest that were loud enough to cause our government to tell ICBC that it wasn't acceptable. Does this mean that the drivers who are more than likely going to place us all at increased risk of collision should feel a little bit of pain but not enough potential pain to cause them to think twice beforehand?

The surest way to avoid the costs associated with collisions is not to have them in the first place. Yes, we all make mistakes, but let's not practice the behaviours that encourage mistakes and let's make it more difficult for those that do.

Reference Links:

ICBC 2019 Annual Report

Have you been directly afected by a collision lately?

ICBC, the way I see it, is make the poor drivers pay, it seems when you hit the pocket book they learn quicker.

I have 49 years of driving without a chargable accident and would very much like to be rewarded by not paying higher premiums because of the poor driving habits of others.

There are us older truck drivers with millions of miles under our belt who would like more traffic enforcement in this province and maybe they could get a handle on these drivers who run stop signs and red lights, speed, can not stay on their side of the centre line and the list goes on.....

Directly affected?

Maybe you should clarify what is meant by directly affected?

Every winter I have one or two accidents that directly affects me. I have a 7% grade to go into Town. It is relatively short but on a regular basis we have some old truck driver that knows he can pull the hill barefoot and ends up jackknifed. This directly affects me. Instead of a 5 minute run I am now stuck with a 30 minute detour. And that is only if I am lucky, and they are already spun out. It has taken me over 4 hours to get home. Most of these incidents end up with a minimum of two semi's tangled together. Some to the point they cannot continue. Those things cost money to fix.

I heard one of the reasons that ICBC wanted to start charging for penalty points is they went through the list of top discount drivers and found that a high percentage of them had speeding tickets. Little difficult to put the blame on speeders when it turns out those same drivers are getting the maximum discount.

Collisions

ICBC

Insurance

Viewpoint