WHEREAS it is desirable for motorists to bear the full costs of travel, including the cost of damage to private and public property caused by collisions through insurance premiums; AND WHEREAS the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is required by law to compensate private property owners for hit and run damage to private property, but not local governments for hit and run damage to public infrastructure: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Regulations to the Motor Vehicle Act, and specifically Section 1072b of BC Regulation 44783, be amended so that hit and run damage costs incurred by local governments are recoverable from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND SOLICITOR GENERAL Each Canadian jurisdiction has funds established to compensate victims of unidentified hit and run motorists. Except in jurisdictions with public automobile insurance, these claims payments are generally restricted to injury claims only. In British Columbia, the access to funds is administered through Basic insurance premiums and paid for by ICBC policyholders. In addition to injury claims, it also includes compensation for the uninsured part of property damage claims subject to a 750 deductible. Currently an exemption applies to certain types of property, such as public infrastructures near highways. Basic insurance premiums are calculated on the basis that certain types of claims are exempt. Including claims for property that is currently exempted would result in new costs to ICBC. These new costs would eventually result in increases to Basic insurance premiums for all British Columbia motorists. Municipalities obtain most of their funding from property taxes and use these monies to pay for common services for the community, including maintaining municipal property. Recovering hit and run damage costs incurred by local governments through ICBC insurance premiums would effectively transfer costs from one rate payer group to another, and ultimately would not achieve any efficiency.