Enhanced Road Assessment discriminative to seniors
Re: “DriveABLE replaced with ERA for senior drivers”, (Citizen, April 18)
Well I have read and thought about this article hidden back on page 18 of your paper, and I understand fully why it did not appear on the front page.
Our ICBC is no longer an insurance company and while it is important to assess drivers it is not the purpose of an insurance company to limit their liability by doing the testing. ICBC has proven over and over it is the worst managed business in British Columbia. It is involved in issues no other insurance company in the world gets involved in. It supplies money for police work, roadside testing, building turn-a-bouts and many things unrelated to the business of insurance, all with our insurance premiums.
This article explains a 90-minute testing period split up into two 45-minute parts, and does not explain the examination of the driver and his vehicle. Wow, they are going to check a senior’s vehicle out? For what? Are they licensed mechanics to be able to do this? New drivers arriving for testing in driving school vehicles do not have cars checked, others being checked are not required a 90-minute driving test, so this is clearly discriminative.
This style of test is inconsistent with how other drivers are tested or re-tested and it is being used to discriminate against seniors. ICBC and police have in the past years blamed and vocalized that seniors are high on the accident lists and cause accidents. Statistics from government and the insurance industry say differently.
This article states some reasons for retesting, what other excuses are there to retest a senior? Are these reasons strictly for seniors? Why are they not stated here? Why is the whole picture not shown? Our government allows this poorly managed ICBC to have the power to make these changes but did they notify the people involved? All seniors. Did they just make the change and tell no one? Most people have no idea when driving laws change, there is no publication of this people see or recognize. Did a letter thoroughly explaining these changes go out to every licensed driver in B.C.?
It is time for our government to close this mismanaged non-insurance company down and allow resident drivers to go back to private carriers who are cheaper than ICBC and are real insurance companies operating under the Insurance Act. ICBC is not an insurance company any longer and it is costing us more to insure our vehicles than the private sector and discriminates against the largest segment of the population in this province, our seniors.
Larry Woodruff
Duncan