ICBC - They aren't insuring my part of BC
Victoria BC reacts very poorly in the face of a little snow. People from the mayor on down neglects to shovel their sidewalk. The municipalities clear the roads late, do it only once or not at all-- with over a dozen fiefdoms, it's a sampler plate of incompetence. The snow removal efforts are underfunded and somnambulistic. When people pay a steep premium to live in this pretty little town, they love the infrequency of snow. They forget that when it hits, we fall apart. A tiny amount of snow becomes a crisis. Levels of public service come across as confused and ill-prepared. Yesterday, the police told people to stay off of the roads, but large employers like UVic and the Provincial government kept it business as usual. BC Transit said the buses were running (with the exception of many routes). Schools stayed open and I think that's largely because of the school's unofficial primary role: state run day care. We have kids trudging to school on icy sidewalks-- dodging meatheads who think they can drive their SUVs. Cars littered the roads around the region. Some abandoned. Some disabled.
The snow that hit Vancouver Island this February will probably deliver over a million dollars in ICBC claims. That amount will be dwarfed by the administrative bloat inside of ICBC; and the loss of work and loss of use generated when a car goes off the road. This is the same ICBC that pressed that some of us put away our cellphones (eg. we can't use our phones or car stereos; but police can still order pizzas while the sirens are flashing and they're ducking cars at high speed). ICBC litters our side streets with "SLOW DOWN" posters to the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. On weekends, police officers log overtime on the ICBC dime peeking into cars looking for drunk drivers. ICBC funds lots of things beyond car repairs after we get a ding or a dent. They cite it as prevention.
Why isn't ICBC stepping up to clear the roads? They could have crews at the ready to move into communities as snow hits. Clear roads would knock down the accident rates and transportation delays. Less accidents = less claims, less injuries and less loss of life. ICBC has the money-- they take it from us and keep a large war chest. Their co-opting of our police forces to prevent drunk driving shows that they do practice prevention. Can't they limit the likelihood of accidents when it snows by paying to keep the roads that our insured vehicles drive down? While this does nothing to keep the clerical staff in ICBC occupied, wouldn't fewer accidents save ICBC some money?
The snow that hit Vancouver Island this February will probably deliver over a million dollars in ICBC claims. That amount will be dwarfed by the administrative bloat inside of ICBC; and the loss of work and loss of use generated when a car goes off the road. This is the same ICBC that pressed that some of us put away our cellphones (eg. we can't use our phones or car stereos; but police can still order pizzas while the sirens are flashing and they're ducking cars at high speed). ICBC litters our side streets with "SLOW DOWN" posters to the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. On weekends, police officers log overtime on the ICBC dime peeking into cars looking for drunk drivers. ICBC funds lots of things beyond car repairs after we get a ding or a dent. They cite it as prevention.
Why isn't ICBC stepping up to clear the roads? They could have crews at the ready to move into communities as snow hits. Clear roads would knock down the accident rates and transportation delays. Less accidents = less claims, less injuries and less loss of life. ICBC has the money-- they take it from us and keep a large war chest. Their co-opting of our police forces to prevent drunk driving shows that they do practice prevention. Can't they limit the likelihood of accidents when it snows by paying to keep the roads that our insured vehicles drive down? While this does nothing to keep the clerical staff in ICBC occupied, wouldn't fewer accidents save ICBC some money?
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