(Copyright Thompson’s World Insurance News. Not to be redistributed by individual recipients.)
Insurance Bureau of Canada is launching a national program to fight cargo theft, which costs Canadians up to $5bn a year.
Based on a pilot the bureau and the Canadian Trucking Alliance ha
s been running in Ontario and Quebec, the new cargo theft reporting program is supported by four Ontario police services and Canadian and U.S. border agencies.
The IBC said cargo theft is a significant problem in transportation hubs in southern Ontario, Vancouver and Montreal.
“Any type of fraud or theft adds to the cost of premiums and cargo theft is no different,” IBC investigative services national director Garry Robertson said at a press conference Tuesday. “It ultimately impacts insurance companies and those companies are seeing this program as a way of combating that.”
He said a single tractor-trailer can haul goods worth millions of dollars.
“As a result this appeals to organized crime groups. They will steal the goods, parcel it out, and distribute it through a sophisticated network that often moves the product before the theft is reported.”
He said the Quebec-Ontario pilot project was already helping to recover stolen goods.
IBC and CTA will expand the program across Canada so that the trucking community, insurers, and the authorities can better share timely information to crack down on theft.
All insurers in Canada and trucking association members can now report cargo thefts directly to IBC via an online submission form. IBC will act as a clearing house for cargo theft data, and will collect, analyze and promptly share information with a national network of law enforcement partners including Canadian and American border agencies.
Law enforcement can ask IBC to search the database to help identify property and to speed its recovery.
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Distracted driving – 1:
Criminalize texting: Poll
(Copyright Thompson’s World Insurance News. Not to be redistributed by individual recipients.)
Eighty-four per cent of Canadians think texting while driving should be a criminal offence, according to a Kanetix.ca survey.
Distracted driving is not currently a criminal offence in Canada, but penalties are beginning to become more stringent. If a driver is caught using a handheld device such as a mobile phone a driver can be fined.
In Ontario, those fines doubled Tuesday to $280. Depending on the nature of the offence, a driver could also potentially be charged with careless driving, which may result in steeper fines, licence suspensions, and possibly jail time.
“There are many habits that most drivers are guilty of that could have severe consequences,” Kanetix.ca principal broker Sean Graham said.
“For example, texting at a red light can result in a ticket fine of $280, plus an insurance premium increase, which is typically an average increase of $75 per year in Ontario. And this conviction stays on a person’s record for three years. Not to mention the possibility of an accident because you are no longer paying attention to the road.”
While those surveyed agreed that texting while driving should be a Criminal Code offence, the survey found that Canadians have differing ideas on what other kinds of distractions should be considered crimes. Seventy-six per cent of those surveyed thought putting on makeup while driving should also be an offence, but only 33% were convinced of the dangers of eating while driving.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 3 with Leger’s online panel. The sample size was 1,502 Canadian drivers 18 years of age and older. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error +/-2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
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Distracted driving – 2:
IBAO likes new penalties
(Copyright Thompson’s World Insurance News. Not to be redistributed by individual recipients.)
Ontario’s brokers are pleased with the proposed legislation that would see distracted driving conviction result in demerits and increased fines.
On Monday the Ontario government introduced proposed amendments to the Highway Traffic Act called the ‘Keeping Ontario’s Roads Safe Act.’ If passed, fines would increase from the current range of $60 to $500 to a range of $300 to $1,000. Police could also assess three demerit points upon conviction of a distracted driving offence.
The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario said it was also happy to see these fines rise Tuesday as the result of an Ontario Court of Justice judicial order.
“According to the Ontario Provincial Police, distracted driving is cited as a causal factor in 30% to 50% of traffic collisions in Ontario; estimated to be much higher due to under-reporting,” IBAO ceo Randy Carroll said.
“The number of collisions caused at the fault of a distracted driver is alarming. We want Ontario drivers to realize the severe consequences associated while driving with a hand-held device.”
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says drivers talking on cellphones are in many cases just as impaired as drunk drivers. Since January 2010 Ontario police have charged 255,279 drivers with distracted driving.
“Brokers want to remind Ontario drivers to practice safe driving all year round,” Mr. Carroll said. “This increase in fines is a strong reminder of the severe impact distracted driving has on all Canadians.”
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Briefly . . .
In a Leger survey for InsuranceHotline.com, 60% of Canadians say they would report an insurance scam. However, they don’t like reporting insurance fraud when it is someone they know. Only 24% of Canadians would report a neighbour who exaggerated the items lost during a robbery. Other findings: 12% said they would claim unrelated damage from an auto accident, 11% would exaggerate what was stolen from their vehicle and 13% would inflate the value of items lost if their luggage was stolen while on vacation.
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Shipping losses continued their downward trend with 94 losses reported worldwide in 2013, coming in below 100 for only the second time in 12 years, reports Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s second annual Safety and Shipping Review, which analyzes reported shipping losses of over 100 gross tons. Losses declined by 20% from 2012 when there were 117 reported losses. Emerging risks identified in the report included Arctic shipping, mega-ships and alternative fuels.
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A St. Louis, Mo., appellate court ruled Tuesday that the Netherlands Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc., must cover powdered milk supplier Main Street Ingredients’ US$1.4m settlement with a maker of instant oatmeal over a recall tied to salmonella fears. The ruling upheld a lower court ruling that Netherlands had a duty to indemnify Main Street under the terms of its policy.