Letter to the Editor
The Vancouver Sun
December 2002

Dear Editor:
In response to: "No-fault would put ICBC in the driver's seat" (November 28, 2002) Mr. Alex Macdonald urges Minister Collins to "think of the political points" he could score by bringing in no-fault auto insurance. His suggestion runs opposite to public polling and sentiment on this issue. He says the truth does not come out in court. But where is it more likely to surface, under oath or in the backrooms of insurance companies? Individuals should be treated as individuals not "meat charts". Each case deserves due consideration.

I agree with Mr. Macdonald's contention that appropriate fines and suspensions could curb traffic accident rates. That speaks to accountability and responsibility, something no-fault ignores. Let's keep those ideas on the road while we heed the warnings of those in the know such as economics professor Jack Carr who, in his study of Ontario's no-fault experience, found that it led to high accident rates.

It is curious that Mr. Macdonald applauds Quebec's system. His information should take a backseat to professor Carr's, that pointed out pure no-fault in that province led to a 9.6% increase in fatalities. Appropriately, Carr regarded that grim statistic as something "no society can afford."

Mr. Macdonald does not explain what he means when he claims "so many people are falling through the cracks" of the present system. What I do know is that injured people routinely fall through the very large cracks inherent to no-fault insurance.

Margaret Birrell,
Executive Member
Coalition Against No-Fault in BC