A plea to use common sense
Editor :
I am pleading with everyone who sits behind the wheel in these winter conditions.
In the last 24 hours (before the big dump on Feb. 6) I have seen a truck flip from catching ice while driving too fast, a car nearly hit me while missing a corner, and someone talking on their cell phone while going down a slippery rural road.
I have five children. I will not wait for one of them to get hurt or killed before I speak up. Please drive defensively and use common sense!
Karin Doornbos Smithers
Premiums in place for reason
Editor:
We agree with Anne Lauderdale that all drivers need to be aware of their speed and to be vigilant to the posted limits. We also know that any increase in the cost of insurance can be frustrating but it is important to understand why the Driver Risk Premium (DRP) is in place.
ICBC introduced the DRP in 2007 and since then we have provided information for customers and brokers at every opportunity, including through the media and our road safety campaigns.
The DRP holds drivers more accountable for the choices they make and the risk they represent on our roads. Overall, motorists who speed excessively, drink and drive, or are convicted of more serious driving offences get involved in twice as many crashes as other drivers. In addition, their crash risk continues to be higher than for other drivers during the entire three-year period, not just for one year. Our customers told us that those drivers should pay more and we listened to them.
Only drivers with the most serious infractions pay the DRP. To receive a DRP as a result of speeding, it means you have to be speeding excessively, which is defined in B.C.’s Motor Vehicle Act as greater than 40km over the speed limit. This is a serious driving offence.
The fact is, unsafe speed remains one of the most frequently-cited contributing factors in police-reported car crashes. On average, 155 people are killed and 4,700 are injured in 7,100 speed-related crashes every year.
Kellee Irwin
Vice president
Personal Insurance
ICBC
Was worse than it sounded
Editor:
On Jan. 31, my seven-year-old son Grant and I were exposed to chlorine gas at the pool. My son was treated with oxygen at the scene and had to go to the hospital in the ambulance. The next day we were both checked by our family doctor and I am on steroid medication to deal with the inflammation in my lungs as a result of the exposure.
I think this is a very serious issue and I was very disappointed by the article in the newspaper that made it sound like nothing happened. It is of great of concern to myself and other parents that had children there, that it was quoted in the newspaper that “everything is functioning great…”. Children going to the hospital is not “functioning great” in my opinion.
I feel that the B.V. Regional Pool needs takes some serious steps to be sure that this type of accident does not happen again.
Holly Pottinger
Telkwa
