File this under the heading of strange and possibly suspicious. The Insurance Corp. of sa国际传媒 says it needs a premium increase because traffic-related injuries are up. Over the past five years, the annual total of people hurt in road accidents province-wide has grown to 81,000 from 75,000.
But isn鈥檛 this rather odd? We hear constantly how tougher law-enforcement policies are making our roads safer.
And so they are, in objective terms. The yearly volume of traffic accidents across sa国际传媒 has fallen by 20,000 since 2008 鈥� a seven per cent reduction. And this despite our growing population.
Road deaths are likewise down substantially. There were 281 fatalities in 2012, which is 32 per cent fewer than the 411 victims who died in 2007.
Those trends are mirrored here in the capital region. Over the past five years, crash rates declined by five per cent in Victoria, and fatalities by 27 per cent.
So what is going on? If there are fewer accidents, and many fewer deaths, how can there be more injury victims?
It seems unlikely that some engineering factor, such as a change in vehicle construction, is to blame. The sa国际传媒 experience is not reflected in other jurisdictions.
Among provinces that publish collision figures, including Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, injuries trend in the same direction as accident and death rates. When death rates go up, injuries go up; when they fall, injuries fall.
National statistics show the same relationship, and have done so for at least two decades. We seem to be something of an anomaly.
There鈥檚 no suggestion ICBC is crying wolf. The corporation has seen payouts for automobile injuries rise by $165 million over the past 12 months, and more than $400 million during the preceding five years.
To recoup the losses, management is seeking a 4.9 per cent lift in basic insurance rates. For average drivers, that translates into a hike of $36.
And last year, the cost of basic coverage rose 11.2 per cent. Both increases are partially offset by reductions in the price of optional insurance.
We can鈥檛 help noting that these cost increases are trivial compared with the whopping 鈥渄ividends鈥� paid to the provincial government by ICBC. Over the past five years, the Finance Ministry has siphoned more than $1.6 billion from company coffers.
That鈥檚 four times the impact of rising injury costs. There would be no need for premium increases if the government wasn鈥檛 so greedy.
Nevertheless, an unexplained phenomenon remains 鈥� injury claims are rising despite other road safety indicators trending in the opposite direction.
Some experts have suggested that drivers are being distracted by their smartphones and iPads. But while that might be true, it doesn鈥檛 solve the puzzle: The number of accidents is down, not up.
One possible answer may be insurance fraud. It鈥檚 no secret that soft-tissue wounds such as whiplash represent a significant portion of bodily injury claims. Medically speaking, these can be difficult to verify or disprove.
Perhaps in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the number of suspect claims has climbed. sa国际传媒 was harder hit by the downturn than most regions of the country.
ICBC is dubious about this explanation. Yet fraudulent claims have always been a challenge for the industry. Traditionally, the company has estimated the cost of fraud at $100 to $150 per premium.
Unaccountably, however, statistics are not kept on the type of injury cases being settled by the courts. No one knows if soft-tissue claims have surged ahead or remained in line.
Surely it would pay ICBC and the provincial Ministry of Justice to get this matter straight. If injuries are genuinely up, another premium increase may be warranted.
But if a rising tide of fraud is involved, more diligent investigations are required.
