ICBC to ditch computerized assessments for drivers with medical concerns
VANCOUVER — ICBC will soon ditch computerized assessments that help determine whether drivers with health conditions can safely continue to drive.
Instead, the Crown corporation will opt for an enhanced on-road assessment, allowing drivers to use their own cars, upping the re-examination length from 75 minutes to 90, and allowing for a break and feedback partway through.
The changes, announced Thursday, follow years of pressure from advocacy and seniors groups that say the computerized assessments add a level of technology that can cause senior testtakers to fumble and affect what might otherwise be competent cognitive abilities.
“The enhanced road assessment puts the focus more sharply on whether someone’s still safe to drive their vehicle, and it’s conducted in a way that’s more accessible and will improve safety,” said Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth.
“The new process is the result of consulting experts and looking at many options, including what other jurisdictions are doing, so drivers can be confident that others around them are qualified to be at the wheel.”
Currently, drivers with medical conditions that may affect their ability to drive safely or a collision report with possible medical concerns are referred for a road assessment test. The test is part of a medical fitness determination conducted by ICBC and includes both an on-road assessment and an in-office, computerbased screening.
“The vast majority of B.C. seniors successfully pass the driver’s medical exam,” said Isobel Mackenzie, B.C.’s seniors advocate.
“For those very few who are referred for further testing, the changes being implemented by RoadSafety B.C. represent a major improvement from the past system, and will make the processes much less stressful for those seniors required to undertake a road test.”
In 2016, Road Safety B.C. evaluated more than 170,000 drivers for on-road competency; of those, about 3,000 completed an ICBC re-examination and 1,000 completed a DriveABLE cognitive assessment.
Concerns about the way driver competency re-examination is conducted has raised for years, with many noting that the ability to drive affords seniors independence and allows them to continue living productive, fulfilling lives.
In 2012, then-solicitor-general Shirley Bond had said the government needed to do a better job of explaining its computerized driving test for seniors suspected of cognitive impairment.
“Government has the responsibility of balancing individuals’ desire to drive with the responsibility to ensure the public safety of all British Columbians,” Bond said in an open letter.
> Caps for ICBC minor injury claims?
The B.C. government is considering capping insurance claims on minor automobile accidents, as well as boosting eligible amounts for physiotherapy and other medical benefits, as it tries to stem rising financial losses at the Insurance Corp. of B.C.
Attorney-General David Eby, who oversees ICBC, said a cap on the amount paid out by ICBC on minor injuries could be a key part of a suite of reforms he’s drafting to help prevent massive vehicle rate hikes from the monopoly Crown auto insurer.
“We’re looking at caps on minor pain and suffering awards, because there’s been an explosion in the size of awards people receive for minor whiplash and minor injuries,” Eby said in an interview Thursday. “It’s a very significant piece of the portfolio of reforms we’re looking at.”
ICBC also hopes to find efficiencies with trial lawyers in court cases over claims, said Eby. B.C. is the last province in Canada with a purely litigation-based insurance model, where drivers not at fault in a crash sue the atfault driver for economic loss and suffering.
ICBC board chair Joy MacPhail said a cap has worked in other provinces and states. Alberta, for example, has a minor injury claims cap of almost $5,000.
“We’ve also made it clear if one is involved in a catastrophic crash where there’s huge injuries suffered, that the tort system will still apply and one will be able to litigate those kinds of claims,” she said.
A recent outside report into ICBC said it could freeze rates for the next five years by putting a $4,000-$6,000 cap on pain and suffering for minor injuries, quadrupling medical accident benefits and paying out rehab costs as accident benefits rather than cash lump sums. That includes a boost to medical benefits even if you at fault in the crash.
New financial documents released by ICBC, as well as the province’s quarterly financial update released this week, paint an even bleaker financial picture than previously known for the corporation.
Basic auto rates would now have to rise more than 50 per cent during the next five years to cover ICBC’s growing claims and legal costs, according to new financial figures it filed with the independent power regulator this week.
The corporation’s previous “worst case scenario” was a 42 per cent rate hike over five years, revealed in late 2016.
The government’s quarterly financial update this week also revealed the amount ICBC is projected to lose in the current fiscal year has shot up to $364 million from an estimated $139 million in September. Eby said ICBC needs to find $600 million a year to cover losses, which would translate into an immediate 20 per cent rate hike.
“The current system of the way we insure people and the benefits we give that insurance are simply not sustainable,” said MacPhail. “And it’s getting worse.”
The previous Liberal government kept rates artificially low by repeatedly taking excess capital from ICBC’s optional insurance business and using it to subsidize basic rates. But with that pot of excess money almost exhausted, the corporation in projected to run massive losses.
The new NDP government has said it won’t allow steep rate hikes, and has instead embarked upon a review of how it could fundamentally change the system.
“We’re looking at the major cost drivers at ICBC, so that’s legal expenses, [which cost] 25 cents on every dollar, autobody repair is up 30 per cent in a couple of years, and operationally how ICBC works as a corporation,” Eby said.
Eby reiterated that B.C. will not adopt a “no-fault” insurance scheme, which restricts a person’s right to sue, nor will he allow for any hybrid insurance models like Saskatchewan that partly incorporate no-fault frameworks.
MacPhail said ICBC is also carefully examining rate fairness, with the goal to hike fees on highrisk drivers who have racked up tickets, crashes and penalties.