ICBC

[Urbane]

Can always rely on you to defend the indefensible, Urbane.

Wilkinson sent de Jong and Coleman to the back benches but he has indicated that their role is to be 'mentors' for the newer (not NEW) faces in his Opposition party.

Same old, same old arrogant and corrupt BC Liberal Party.

Same old rhetoric from you . . . just throw in the words "arrogant" and "corrupt" and hope they'll stick. You should actually try reading my posts because I have not defended the Liberals' handling of ICBC. Just the opposite!

[flamingfingers]

It's very easy for you to say that you have not defended the BC Liberals on this and that on a local and meaningless Okanagan forum, Urbane, but what have you ACTUALLY done in protesting to your local MLA or the leader of your party in a personal and direct way?

Like writing to them; like phoning them; like demanding answers to your questions in written form that you could document here?

[Urbane]

It's very easy for you to say that you have not defended the BC Liberals on this and that on a local and meaningless Okanagan forum, Urbane, but what have you ACTUALLY done in protesting to your local MLA or the leader of your party in a personal and direct way?

Like writing to them; like phoning them; like demanding answers to your questions in written form that you could document here?

Way more than you've done to change anything with the NDP because you literally can't find anything wrong with the NDP! So ironic that you would complain about me, when I have been critical of the Liberals over and over, when you stay silent with the broken promises of your party's leader.

[flamingfingers]

Sorry Urb, I have been in touch with Carole James, my MLA here and have told her I was not supportive of taxpayers dollars for overall parties. I also complained about their decision on Site C.

I also congratulated them on their move to halve MSP payments this January and how it will benefit seniors whose income is below $35K to have their deductibles for prescription meds eliminated.

I guess Urb, that you are so rich you don't care about these issues, eh?

[Urbane]

Sorry Urb, I have been in touch with Carole James, my MLA here and have told her I was not supportive of taxpayers dollars for overall parties. I also complained about their decision on Site C.

I also congratulated them on their move to halve MSP payments this January and how it will benefit seniors whose income is below $35K to have their deductibles for prescription meds eliminated.

I guess Urb, that you are so rich you don't care about these issues, eh?

The decision to go ahead with Site C was the right decision! Anyway, I call them as I see them and that's why I was critical of the Liberals' handling of ICBC. That's the actual subject of this thread.

[flamingfingers]

^^Yes, ICBC is the actual topic Urb. E&Y delivered their report to the BC Liberals in 2014 which deJong 'sanitized' (removed many pages of their report) before letting it out to even cabinet members, including Todd Stone who was 'supposed'to be responsible for ICBC.

Is Todd Stone lying about not having access to this report?
Is deJong complicit in withholding information from not only government but from taxpayers who paid for the study?
Why did the BC Liberals continue to take 'subisides' from ICBC to falsely claim a 'balanced budget'?

BC Libs have a lot of 'splaining to do.

[Urbane]

^^Yes, ICBC is the actual topic Urb. E&Y delivered their report to the BC Liberals in 2014 which deJong 'sanitized' (removed many pages of their report) before letting it out to even cabinet members, including Todd Stone who was 'supposed'to be responsible for ICBC.

Is Todd Stone lying about not having access to this report?
Is deJong complicit in withholding information from not only government but from taxpayers who paid for the study?
Why did the BC Liberals continue to take 'subisides' from ICBC to falsely claim a 'balanced budget'?

BC Libs have a lot of 'splaining to do.

Yeah, yeah . . . questions, questions, politics, politics . . . but let's get ICBC on sound financial footing. That means not just government but drivers as well who bear much of the responsibility for ICBC's financial situation.

[Urban Cowboy]

^^Yes, ICBC is the actual topic Urb. E&Y delivered their report to the BC Liberals in 2014 which deJong 'sanitized' (removed many pages of their report) before letting it out to even cabinet members, including Todd Stone who was 'supposed'to be responsible for ICBC.

Is Todd Stone lying about not having access to this report?
Is deJong complicit in withholding information from not only government but from taxpayers who paid for the study?
Why did the BC Liberals continue to take 'subisides' from ICBC to falsely claim a 'balanced budget'?

BC Libs have a lot of 'splaining to do.

Yeah, yeah . . . questions, questions, politics, politics . . . but let's get ICBC on sound financial footing. That means not just government but drivers as well who bear much of the responsibility for ICBC's financial situation.

Actually the drivers bear all of it. Things were not bad before distracted driving, and subsequent skyrocketing claims.

Did ICBC even have a problem back in 2014?

[Verum]

...
Actually the drivers bear all of it. Things were not bad before distracted driving, and subsequent skyrocketing claims.

Did ICBC even have a problem back in 2014?

I trust you realise that the accident rate is broadly the same as it was in 2012. Distraction as a cause has remained roughly the same since 2007.
http://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Documents/quick-statistics.pdf

The fatality rate across Canada has dropped in half since 1996:
https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehiclesafety/tp-tp3322-2015-1487.html
Even injuries have dropped hugely despite a 30% increase in driving population between 1996 and 2015.

BC actually has fairly good casualty rates for Canada.

The problem is that we relied on dropping rates of fatalities and injuries to keep insurance prices relatively low and now that they have stopped dropping at the rate they used to, we are stuck with a system used to costs associated with an accident going up by far greater than inflation, and a flat rate of accidents. We need to curb the cost of accidents if we wish to tackle the issue of insurance cost. Additionally, ICBC should concern itself with insurance and we should have a separate road safety body. The commingled systems make it hard to discern what is spin to explain higher prices of insurance, and what is actual evidence based safety information.

[Urban Cowboy]

I'm not going to go digging just to argue with you, however "fatality" rates though a good thing, is relevant in what aspect?

Distracted driving is at epidemic levels, having surpassed impaired driving, and I'd venture that with increased protection in cars such as airbags which are now mandatory, the result is less fatalities, but in all likelihood far more survivors with lasting injuries that create the problem.

I know simply from trying to survive on highway 97 that distracted driving was epidemic, and resulted in a spike of head on crashes which are the most serious kind.

A telling statistic would be knowing the overall numbers of victims with long term injuries, and comparing those numbers today, to what they were say fifteen years back or so.

[Verum]

I'm not going to go digging just to argue with you, however "fatality" rates though a good thing, is relevant in what aspect?

Distracted driving is at epidemic levels, having surpassed impaired driving, and I'd venture that with increased protection in cars such as airbags which are now mandatory, the result is less fatalities, but in all likelihood far more survivors with lasting injuries that create the problem.

I know simply from trying to survive on highway 97 that distracted driving was epidemic, and resulted in a spike of head on crashes which are the most serious kind.

A telling statistic would be knowing the overall numbers of victims with long term injuries, and comparing those numbers today, to what they were say fifteen years back or so.

I gave you the links to the stats and by my understanding, you're just wrong. Roads are safer than they were 15 years ago, despite significant increases in traffic levels.

[Urban Cowboy]

I looked at the statistics, and interesting as they are, there are still questions left unanswered, foremost among them, how many people are getting ongoing payouts due to long term injuries currently? How many were in that category ten years ago?

Data such as that is necessary to positively identify what the main issues are.

Ever since 2012 distracted driving has been higher than impaired driving.

Speeding seems to be consistently high.

But which category is creating the most problems in so far as long term expenses go?

If it's all of them, fine then nail all the culprits with higher insurance rates.

In that area I believe Saskatchewan has the better idea, in that they separate car insurance and drivers licenses, with those who have speeding violations, or other negative strikes showing up against their drivers license, having to pay a lot extra to retain it.

This is one way to make sure the ones who are the problem, are also the ones paying the most, as they should be.

[flamingfingers]

Old Techie wrote:

Did ICBC even have a problem back in 2014?

ClimateChange Steves
‏

@Harold_Steves
12h12 hours ago
More
The @BCLiberals were warned in 2015 that ICBC was being mismanaged and caps were needed plus higher premiums for bad drivers. The Liberals removed the damming pages from the Ernst & Young report before making it public. More @ChristyClarkBC Liberal lies!

2 replies 29 retweets 35 likes
Reply 2 Retweet 29 Like 35 Direct message

@guardineer
3h3 hours ago
More Guardineer Retweeted Norm Farrell
DeJong, #ICBC #E-Y Report:"there was no appetite for @bcliberals to act....." here, in writing is the evidence for investigation and charges to be laid.Guardineer added,

@Norm_Farrell
An amazing explanation from former finance minister Mike de Jong as to why Liberals hid (and continue to hide) parts of a vital #ICBC report from public view. What a disgrace!
#bcpoli…
0 replies 2 retweets 3 likes
Reply Retweet 2 Like 3 Direct message

[dirtybiker]

Might be the fact that vehicle design means more people survive but
are still injured ?

Can't really compare the price points of B.C. against the Prairies.
The Topographical differences bring with them more challenges.

[Smurf]

Another huge cost that has been mentioned already somewhere is the quickly increasing the high cost of repairing newer vehicles. Since the automotive industry has started patenting parts on cars so no one else can make them for a period of time prices of repairs have skyrocketed. Just price a taillight or headlight assembly for a new SUV. Yes they have been high for some time but even a dealer employee explained to me how bad it is getting. They will sell vehicles cheaper than they normally would have knowing that they will make it up on parts. It has become very similar to printers and printer ink. Sell you a printer for nothing and nail you on the ink.