File Photo.
The province says ICBC is redirecting half its annual advertising budget to police in B.C. for traffic enforcement.
Attorney General David Eby says ICBC will add $2.4 million next fiscal year towards enhanced traffic enforcement, which will bring the corporation’s road safety traffic enforcement budget to $24.8 million.
Eby says high-risk drivers in the province are clearly not following ICBC’s general road safety advertising, so police will get to deliver it for them.
“Redirecting ICBC advertising dollars to increase enforcement will give police officers more opportunity to deliver a specific and personal advertising message directly to more reckless drivers at the side of the road,” Eby said in a statement.
The province says last year saw a record 350,000 crashes on B.C. roads or 960 per day.
ICBC President and CEO Nicolas Jimenez says significant cost pressures faced by the corporation starts with crashes.
“With crashes at an all-time high in our province, we’re committed to doing what we can to reduce claims costs and relieve the pressure on insurance rates,” Jimenez said in a release.
The public insurer is facing larger than expected losses this fiscal year, projected to be $890 million dollars in the province’s second-quarter economic report.
Last fiscal year, ICBC lost $1.3 billion.
The remaining $2.4 million in ICBC’s advertising budget will be spent on educating British Columbians on changes taking place to the auto insurance system over the next year, along with road safety enforcement campaigns.
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