TORONTO, May 6, – Insurance Bureau of Canada is pleased with road safety amendments introduced yesterday in Ontario’s Bill 20, The Road Safety Act, 2003.
“As a key road safety partner with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Insurance Bureau of Canada congratulates Minister Frank Klees for bringing forward a plan for further improving the safety of Ontario roads and highways,” says Mark Yakabuski, IBC’s Vice President, Ontario. “These reforms will surely build on Ontario’s impressive road safety record,” Yakabuski added.
The Bill addresses several road safety issues including road racing, mandatory child booster seats, passing on highways and construction zone safety.
The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry supports a legislative crackdown on road racing. This bill will give police the necessary tools to deal with racing including the power to impound vehicles and suspend drivers’ licenses. In addition, says Yakabuski, “road racers need to be aware that on top of these sanctions, they also run the risk of invalidating their insurance coverage.”
MTO is strengthening measures to ensure the safety of medically at-risk drivers and the broader community. The legislation clarifies the responsibility of medical professionals and newly designated persons to report on functional impairments as well as clinical conditions.
“These provisions are a sensible approach to address and identify the medical and physical impairments that can interfere with a person’s ability to drive and would otherwise place them and others at increased risk of injury and death,” Yakabuski added.
The insurance industry has a long history of supporting road safety measures, including mandatory seatbelt use, graduated licensing for new drivers, daytime running lights on vehicles, anti-drinking-and-driving campaigns, and proper head restraint use, to name a few.
Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national trade association of the private property and casualty insurance industry. It represents the companies that provide more than 90 per cent of the non-government home, car and business insurance in Canada. For more information or to view news releases, visit the media section of IBC’s web site at www.ibc.ca.
