Christien

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...o-driving.html

Fantino wants people who drive carelessly and crash in bad weather to pay for the damage themselves, rather than have their insurance pay for it.

In principal, I think this is a great idea. My only concerns would be that there be measures in place to ensure crashed cars are repaired, because I think many people wouldn't bother, which could make our roads more unsafe.

Thoughts?

PbPedis

why?...that's why we pay for insurance. You'll pay in the end anyway as your insurance will go up. This will just be another issue where we are at the mercy of the police who will be the ones determining whether we were driving carelessly. So, if they have had a bad day, don't like you, don't like the car you drive, etc, etc, they will say you were driving carelessly and you are screwed.

old man neri

Who defines what is 'careless' and what is 'bad weather'? If it's up to Fantino it will probably be that any accident that occurs on something other than a beautiful summer day, on a sunday, with clear blue skies, no wind, and between the hours of 1pm and 2pm will be considered 'bad weather' and thus you have to pay for it.

In fact, if you look at it every single crash is caused by carelessness.

What is the point of insurance then? Why bother having comprehensive if you can't use it? Liability insurance was given it's name for a reason.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of idiots out there. Personally I would just rather have driver training improved drastically. That is the key. Besides, if you cause a crash, get the 'at fault', and get charged for negligence; I guarantee that with your increased rates over the next 5 years you will be paying for the damages and then some.

Lastly, WTF is with Fantino trying to write laws now? The same person in charge of enforcing the laws is now going to write them as well? Hmmm, maybe we should let the military choose what operations they which to go on as well. Someone needs to hammer that nail back down.

-matt

'Never thought I would say this but I am glad I am moving to Manitoba'

pongobaz

sorry, but I can't agree with this proposal on the grounds that once again, we are giving police "carte blanche" to interpret the laws as they see fit and act as judge, jury and executioner at the scene. Fantino is a dangerous man in my opinion, who will stop at nothing to give his beloved boys in blue full and utter control over the general citizenry.

old man neri

SHHHHHH! Don't say that Phil, you don't want to get in trouble. It's soon going to be against the law to say 'bad things' and what you just said might be interpreted as a 'bad thing'

Christien

You guys bring up some good points I never considered, particularly the additional discretionary powers given to police at the side of the road.

Brad, any thoughts?

Dale Gribble

liability is still the biggest portion of ur insurance coverage and one has the option to forgo collision/comprehensive/theft/fire/everything else.

i don't see the point of fantino's statement. if you pay extra for comprehensive, then insurance pays out, end of story.

This reminds me of the old smokers getting public health care debate.


There's only two things that will help reduce accidents:
1) tougher driver training and testing (finnish style). I mean really tough stuff and mandatory skid control training. I know many people in my own family would fail this and rightly so. Everyone's a good driver till sh*t hits the fan.
2) mandatory snow tires a la Quebec.(and even that is debatable since you still skid and slip and get stuck)

just about anything else is moot and political grandstanding to deflect from the real problems with canadian drivers.

Turbodan

Fantino has his head up his ***. Police already are not paying enough attention to things that they really should be policing like guns and knives. Now he wants to devote more police resources to determine if careless or not for insurance purposes (something the police should have nothing to do with in the first place). Let insurance companies worry about insurance and let police worry about policing. the crime rate in this city is UNACCEPTABLE, similar to some US cities. do your job Fantino.

pongobaz

Yeah, we're getting uncomfortably close to a day when you'll be charged for even thinking about it à la "Minority Report" style.

justinsrx7

When you pay for something, you get something in return with the exception of insurance. You pay for it, but you get absolutely nothing in return. Then when you have an accident, you avoid claiming the insurance you paid for becuase you will have to pay again in the form of a deuctible in order to get the insurance that you have already paid for. Then you will end up paying higher premiums as a result of making a claim which was precicely what you thought you were paying for when you bought you insurance in the first place.

Sorry, got side tracked on the insuranc thing. Fantino, just looking for revenue streams under the guise of public safety. It is a blatent conflict of interest, but we live in a passive society and he will just continue to run wild without recourse.

old man neri

Justin: Insurance is nothing more than paying a monthly fee for access to a guaranteed loan when you do smack someone else.

Ronan

This guy seems to dream up new schemes every day..." street racing" with a single car,complete vilification of drivers for a thousand things, even though accidents are reducing.He is a self promoting egotist who just can't keep out of the media. If you have accidents that are your fault, your insurance company will jackup your insurance premium, so you will automatically pay for it yourself rather than take the premium hit in many cases.
He had some whacko idea a while ago to reduce the speed limit to 90. I think he should show leadership...get rid of the big V8s, and buiy a new green fleet ..I think the entire police fleet should consist of Smarts and Priuses, plus some Dodge Caravans for pickups.
He spends a lot more time on traffic matters than organized crime,prostitution,domestics, or drugs. I guess he thinks he gets better press.

Garth82928

This isn't Fantino, he's just a puppet for the insurance lobby. They don't want to pay out on anything and this increases profit margins and using the gov't to enact laws and police to enforce them is how they get what they want.

Why do you think moving violations are so adamantly enforced now despite stats that indicate it has done nothing to lower accidents? Because the insurance lobby uses it as a way to increase premiums and the gov't/police are all for it as it generates revenue even though the cost of increasing that revenue is probably higher than the revenue generated. Creative accounting at it's best...

I have no issue with police doing their jobs, but do have an issue with insurance companies and their scumbag business practices.

justinsrx7

Fantino and the insurance companies are the biggest criminals in Canada. The reason they concentrate on traffic is because it is the easiest way to steal money from us. Finding criminals is hard work and there is zero direct revenue in fighting crime.

I would prefer they just cut the BS and charge me an annual fee and let me be free in this free land of ours.

paul997

I for one would be willing to donate ( would be nice if it was tax deductable ) to a fund to have Mr. Fantino go sleep with the fishes.