ICBC and the province aren’t taking the issue of distracted driving lying down.
On Monday, the provincial government announced they are working to designate distracted driving as a high-risk driving behaviour under the auto insurance company’s Driver Risk Premium program.
The numbers for distracted driving in BC are nothing short of staggering according to spokesperson Joanna Linsangan.
“Over the last five years, distracted driving has caused 68 deaths in the north-central region, provincially, on average what we do see is that 78 people die every single year due to distracted driving and that is a quarter of all deaths that we see on our roads.”
The new changes mean any time a driver accumulates two distracted driving tickets within a three-year period, the total for financial penalties could rise by as much as $2,000 – a $740 increase when compared to the existing penalties.
Distracted driving continues to put people in harm’s way and put significant pressure on insurance rates for all drivers Linsangan adds.
“Everyone has a smartphone these days and smartphones aren’t going away and many people are just attached to their phone, we’re seeing the rates of distracted driving increase and now we have seen that deaths attributed to distracted driving has actually surpassed DUI’s and that is a significant change.”
Once the changes are implemented, it will result in additional $3 million to $5 million in additional premiums collected on a yearly basis.
Currently, there are 12,000 drivers across the province who have multiple distracted driving offences over a three-year period.
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