The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), currency struggling with its financial condition, has posted its automobile crash records for 2017 – and they are not encouraging.
The insurer has announced that, last year, it recorded an all-time high of 350,000 automobile crashes. According to the ICBC, the crashes in total cost $4.8 billion in claims.
ICBC interim vice-president for road safety Lindsay Matthews added that the total number of crashes for 2017 is up 6% from 2016, and 25% higher than 2014.
With an average of 960 crashes a day, it means that “one out of 10 drivers could cause a crash this year,” Matthews warned.
Vancouver Sun reported that ICBC did not present a demographic breakdown of the crash records during the announcement. However, the insurer did have statistics that a large percentage of the collisions occurred at intersections – more than 60% of the total collisions recorded in 2017.
Matthews explained that speeding, distractions, and impaired driving remain the key causes of the most severe crashes. The interim vice-president added that ICBC is also looking to address the less serious crashes; she has noted that bad driving habits are a contributing factor to these minor accidents.
ICBC had recently commissioned a survey via polling firm Insights West, which found that 60% of BC drivers listed the behavior of other drivers – distraction, not signalling, and driving too slowly in the passing lane – as their top road frustration.
