Behind the wheel
December 26, 2009 by Tim Schewe
Filed under Community, Feature stories, Safety, Travel
Merry Christmas 2009.
If I could give all of you one gift this Christmas it would be a year’s worth of safe driving. For those of us here in British Columbia that would mean more than one driver a day would not die, 81 people would not be injured and 69 property damage collisions would not occur. Imagine that.
For those of you who think that they have not been affected by a collision in the past year, consider about 80 percent of what you paid to ICBC to insure your vehicle.
ICBC justifies age-related licensing conditions
Lives saved by stronger rules for new drivers.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
Stronger rules for the Graduated Licensing Program (GLP), which took effect in 2003, saved at least 31 lives and prevented 17,500 crashes involving new drivers in the three-year period following the changes, Solicitor General Kash Heed announced today.
“This government toughened the rules for new drivers six years ago, and it has been a public safety success,” Heed said. “The number of crashes dropped by 28 per cent, and most importantly there were 4,000 fewer crashes with injuries.”
Olympic perks eat up sports funding
October 23, 2009 by Norm Macdonald
Filed under BC finance, BC news, Business, Recreation
What does $2.4 million buy you? For British Columbian taxpayers, it buys you thousands of tickets to Olympic events, many of those tickets in the highest price seats.
Publicly owned corporations like BC Hydro and ICBC have spent $1.5 million on Olympic tickets. And the government’s own Olympic Ticketing Strategy spent $900,000 to buy tickets so that government MLA’s and cabinet ministers can attend prime events in the best seats.
It is more than ironic that BC Liberals are wasting tax payers’ money to attend sporting events at a time that sports programs across the province are being cut and promised grants to non-profit groups are being cancelled.
‘Nameless’ BC resident denied essential services
September 23, 2009 by Suzanne M Kelly
Filed under BC government, BC news, Freedom
Suzanne M Kelly of the BC Kootenays region claims she is unable to access government services due to widespread bureaucratic incompetence.
A resident of the Kootenays region of southeastern British Columbia says that since 2003 she has been prevented from obtaining the necessities of life by bureaucratic incompetence in the BC government.
Suzanne M Kelly, who lives at a remote location near Kaslo BC, claims that she has been denied access to most government and government-regulated services since 9/11 because agencies of the BC government no longer recognize her name.
In 2003 she could not renew her driver’s licence because ICBC rejected the name already on the licence and would not accept a marriage certificate as proof of her family name. She says “I cannot drive or open a bank account or get a passport because ICBC will not let me apply for photo ID.”
Vehicles owned by dead people
August 27, 2009 by Tim Schewe
Filed under Feature stories, Travel
Behind the Wheel –
In the time that I have been writing this column I have accumulated many different topics. The requests have been varied, but I must admit, I never would have come up with this week’s topic myself. A reader has asked about vehicles owned by dead people.
The question is not as far out as you might think, and has some very important legal considerations. The lawyer I spoke with to gather background information suggested that on the death of a sole registered owner, the plates be cancelled, a storage insurance policy be purchased, and the vehicle be parked until the estate is probated. If the vehicle is worth less than $10,000 and the spouse is registered as co-owner ICBC will allow the surviving spouse to change the registration to indicate that they are sole owner in order to continue to use the vehicle prior to probate.
Buying a vehicle from the U.S.?
ICBC’s top five tips to avoid trouble when importing a vehicle from the U.S.
That ‘deal’ may be more trouble than it’s worth.
B.C. set a record for vehicles imported from the United States in 2008 – 42,922, more than double the number that crossed the border in 2006. But, in a year when the Canadian dollar also reached parity with its American counterpart, some B.C. drivers found great deals while others found their U.S. vehicle was anything but a bargain.
“It’s imperative buyers gather as much information as possible about the vehicle they’re bringing home to Canada in order to make sure it’s not flood-damaged or has a ‘washed’ or incorrect title,” said Mark Francis, ICBC’s manager of provincial vehicle registration and licensing.
‘Dirty driving’ distractions
B.C. drivers come clean — Ipsos Reid survey uncovers “dirty driving” distractions.
The average B.C. driver spends almost 11 hours a week in the car – so naturally driving smart should be a priority because it can affect the price you pay for insurance, how much gas you use and your impact on the environment. However, a recent Ipsos Reid survey for ICBC shows that almost all drivers (96%) admit to wasting gas even though they say fuel efficiency is important.
The majority of drivers either let their car idle for more than 10 seconds or drive at speeds of 10 to 20 km/h over the speed limit. However, most say that fuel efficiency will be an important factor when they purchase their next vehicle.
Parallel parking and the impatient driver
July 2, 2009 by Tim Schewe
Filed under Feature stories, Safety, Travel
Behind the Wheel –
I’ve noticed recently that often drivers are impatient of people parallel parking and pass them on the left rather than waiting in the right hand lane for the driver to finish parking before moving forward. In the event of a collision who is at fault – the person parallel parking or the person trying to go around the parallel parking car?
This question turned out to be more involved when I corresponded with the person asking it and learned about what had prompted the query. She had found a place to parallel park, stopped in position to back in, signaled, made sure that the vehicle behind had stopped and began to back in. Like most of us, she concentrated on getting into the parking space properly and did not watch to see that the vehicle behind her remained stopped.
