Provincial elections serve the same function for politicians that Santa Claus serves for young children. There’s no better guarantor of scrupulous behaviour than the reminder someone is watching.
Less than a week after the B.C. Liberals released their first campaign commercial, the government refrained from collecting its customary $160-million dividend from ICBC. We hope to one day understand why forgoing the dividend is a bad idea in non-election years.
B.C.’s insurance provider is planning to raise annual rates by $42; partly due to ICBC’s dismal investment portfoliio and the higher cost of fixing newer cars.
But the biggest reason we’re paying more is because there were 40,000 more crashes in 2015 than in 2013.
While we raised our eyebrows when Transportation Minister Todd Stone claimed B.C.’s “growing economy” is responsible for the uptick in collisions, his point about the dangers of distracted driving is well taken.
Our phones have gotten smarter. We haven’t. About 25 per cent of fatalities on the road are related to distracted driving. We also exhibit selfish habits like running yellow lights, darting between lanes, speeding and otherwise driving like jerks.
If the province is serious about reducing the number of costly collisions, the best thing they can do is reduce the number of people on the roads by investing in transit infrastructure (not holding it hostage to a referendum).
There’s plenty of blame to go around for the state of ICBC.
The fault is in our cars, in ourselves, and in Victoria.
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