B.C.’s insurance corporation cuts ad budget in favour of traffic enforcement

VICTORIA – The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is slashing its advertising budget in half and redirecting the funds toward police traffic enforcement.

Attorney General David Eby says high risk drivers are ignoring the corporation's road safety messages.

He says channelling advertising funds directly to enforcement will offer the chance to deliver the message directly to risky drivers.

Starting in the next fiscal year, the insurance corporation will add $2.4 million to enhanced traffic enforcement.

The Ministry of the Attorney General says that will boost the public insurer's investment in direct safety traffic programs to $24.8 million.

Corporation president Nicolas Jimenez says ICBC's cost pressures can be traced directly to the 350,000 crashes, about 960 a day, that were recorded across British Columbia last year.

"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 says in a news release.

The corporation says the $2.4 million remaining in its advertising budget will be spent educating drivers about upcoming changes to the provincial auto insurance system.