The sad reality is that when the NDP convinced the public that they needed to “fix ICBC” by bringing in No Fault Insurance (Enhanced Care), the real purpose was to save ICBC billions of dollars.  These ridiculous profits are not being used to help care for the injured or make ICBC better like the NDP told us.

This change to No Fault Insurance was never about British Columbians.  It was never about improving ICBC which has been a disaster for years through gross mismanagement.  In fact, the management in charge before are still at ICBC receiving bonuses.  This was all about taking away your rights to make ICBC hugely profitable – plain and simple.

News stories are now coming out about what No Fault Insurance and Enhanced Care is really about.

In a prior blog post, we provided links to new reports about the horrors of ICBC No Fault Insurance:

After several articles written about the Vancouver Cyclist Charged $3,700 for damage to the car that ran a stop sign injuring him, we now learn that NDP and ICBC are charging cyclists and pedestrians the cost of car repairs.  This applied even where the driver was at fault for the motor vehicle accident.  Seems crazy right?  Imagine minding your own business riding your bike lawfully when a car runs a stop sign or a red light.  You suffer a concussion and a broken arm.  You cannot return to work for several months.  The pain never resolves and you are left with permanent chronic pain.  You cannot work like you did before and you are not earning the same amount of money.  On top of getting zero compensation aside from “income replacement benefits” which do not fully compensate you, ICBC will now charge you the cost of repairing the  other driver’s car when you did nothing wrong.

The NDP and ICBC are backpedaling announcing that ICBC will NO longer seek recovery for costs, but only in certain specific situations:

  • where a cyclist or pedestrian has suffered a severe or catastrophic injury
  • where there has been a fatality
  • when ICBC determines 50/50 fault against the cyclist/pedestrian

This is a complete smokescreen.

First, the NDP and ICBC are simply changing its “policy”.  It is not changing the law to force these changes which would make ICBC accountable by law.  There is nothing legally that will force ICBC to follow these policy changes. If ICBC chooses not to follow this new policy, then there is very little, if anything, you can do to challenge ICBC.

Second, the new exceptions are extremely rare.  In fact, I estimate that they will apply to 5% of all claims, possibly lower.  ICBC will determine whether your injury is severe or catastrophic according to the definition in the new law.  The vast majority of injuries will not be considered catastrophic. It is also extremely rare that there is a fatality – if a cyclist or pedestrian have died, why would a bill be sent to them anyway?  It is also extremely rare that ICBC will not have sufficient evidence to make a finding of liability.  I have been practicing law in personal injury since 2005.  I can count on my 1 hand the number of times ICBC determined 50/50 fault due to a lack of evidence.

These are not real changes to improve ICBC like the NDP and ICBC claim.

I expect there to be countless stories coming to light about Enhanced Care and how it only benefits ICBC and the NDP.

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