Off-road impairment is a significant problem. If police can only track down a portion of the inebriated on our roadways, it stands to reason it would be an insurmountable challenge to get to those in the wilderness. According to a 2021 StatsCan report, half of snowmobile fatalities in Canada are due to drug or alcohol impairment. We average 73 deaths a year, and they are overwhelmingly (89 per cent) male. The lax attitude combined with little oversight is deadly.
It usually takes a crash or injury to trigger a charge, as this golf cart pilot near Barrie allegedly discovered a couple of years ago. If you’re on any of the many bodies of water in this country in the summer, half-cut captains are hardly rare. Some places see stricter enforcement, but many charges are triggered by injury or death. This is another area where we need to rethink the wording we use: boat crashes caused by impaired operators are not “accidents.”
Changes to car insurance across the provinces driving.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from driving.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
British Columbia
As of May 1, British Columbia’s publicly owned auto insurance provider, ICBC, moved drivers to a no-fault system in an effort to reduce car insurance rates by roughly 20 per cent.
Under a no-fault system, a driver receives accident benefits from their own insurance company for any claim, regardless of who is at fault for the collision. Insurance companies then assign a percentage of fault to each driver. Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island all operate under this system.
Prior to this change, B.C. drivers would have to go after the at-fault driver for compensation, which could often result in lengthy and costly legal battles. The province’s new system, dubbed “Enhanced Care,” eliminates that need and also comes with a promise of increased maximum care and treatment benefits for anyone injured in a motor vehicle crash.
Officials defend recovery plan for troubled PACE Credit Union as financial pressures build theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.