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ICBC speed cops shut down

After Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor-General Shirley Bond put the kibosh on what she felt were unreasonable rate hikes, ICBC has withdrawn a proposal that would have seen drivers pay three years of higher premiums for just one speeding viola

After Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor-General Shirley Bond put the kibosh on what she felt were unreasonable rate hikes, ICBC has withdrawn a proposal that would have seen drivers pay three years of higher premiums for just one speeding violation.

When the original pitch was made by the provincial auto insurer, the writers of letters to the editor, op-ed columns and blogs and callers to radio phone-in shows fumed about the proposed changes. One blogger even offered this gem: "The management acts with arrogance, omnipotence, and they have their snouts in places they should not be."

According to ICBC, the increases made sense because nearly 40 years of risk assessment statistics revealed that speeders are twice as likely to cause accidents. What got lost in all of the hand wringing about rate hikes is the understanding that upwards of two-thirds of drivers who avoided tickets would have received rate reductions.

Also, what many critics failed to address is the concept that linking rate increases to speeding convictions is a strategy of last resort in the law enforcement department.

From all appearances, there just are not enough cops to adequately enforce speed limits, with more and more members of the thin blue line scurrying to shut down grow-ops, or confiscate illegal guns and chase down gangs.

Given this policing shortfall, ICBC was betting that even the remote chance of getting a speeding ticket coupled with the looming threat of a three-year insurance tab increase would make more people slow down.

Anybody who travels on the upgraded Sea to Sky Highway, or most B.C. roadways for that matter, understands that posted speed limits are mere suggestions. The Coquihalla, the Malahat on Vancouver Island, and Highway 1, have all become magnets for lead-footed drivers handling every make, shape and size of vehicle.

Even visitors from south of the border quickly realize that speed restrictions in the "Best Place on Earth" are extremely elastic. More than a few vehicles bearing Washington plates dutifully toe the line all the way up Interstate 5 to the Peace Arch because Smokey has a bigger footprint down there. Once they hit Highway 99, they promptly pick up local driving habits.

Of course, an immediate solution to the speeding problem is photo radar, a traffic calming tool used in a number of Canadian provinces, various U.S. centres and throughout Europe and Great Britain. Many jurisdictions, including Medicine Hat, where photo radar has been deployed for nearly 15 years, have produced both anecdotal and statistical evidence that shows the strategy is effective at reducing speed, collisions and injury rates.

But in B.C. the anti-photo-radar lobby is powerful and vocal enough to scare lawmakers right out of their collective knickers. So we can't go there.

Consequently, ICBC was about to be installed as the provincial default traffic enforcer. Now, after being reprimanded for overzealousness, the corporation will have to negotiate the prerequisite rounds of stakeholder meetings, open houses, and online feedback to get it right. With unpleasant memories of Shirley Bond's dressing down still ringing in their ears, it's anybody's guess what the brain trust running our public insurer will come up with.

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