difficult for ICBC to truly compete with private insurance if they are saddled as the insurer of last resort. They'd get all the bad drivers while the private companies cherry pick all the good ones.

The government needs to keeps their hands out of the cookie jar of ICBC, BCHydro, etc and just let them operate.

I hope you understand ICBC does the same. Its a business after all. Believe me I seen people have there insurance voided when they got into a accident while impaired. Private or public they outcome is the same.

Not exactly, ICBC does not have to give everyone the cheapest rate or even mandatorily insure them. If someone does not like paying xxx amount of money due to having little driving experience or at-fault claims they go private insurance or take the bus.

Just wondering, have you ever dealt with private insurance? I have and it was not pleasant. ICBC has it's faults, but I'd much rather deal with ICBC than any private insurance company.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I'll bitch and moan about the high price of ICBC, but ultimately, having the the peace of mind knowing that no matter what, I'll be covered(barring me doing something stupidly illegal), is what INSURANCE is for.

Quick Google search will show you the answer.

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, you can have alcohol up to 0.08
According to the BC Motor Vehicle Act, you can have alcohol up to 0.05
According to ICBC, you can NOT drink & drive

CBA British Columbia - 190
Denied Insurance Coverage for Drinking and Driving - ICBC Advice Guide

So if you drink & drive and cause an accident, your ICBC insurance will be DENIED even if the police does not charge you for DUI because you were under the legal limit.

Public audit of what the liberals did with the money they scooped up from ICBC instead.

From the site you provided:
"ICBC will often breach you of your contract of insurance despite the fact that the police do not charge you criminally with impaired driving but provide you with an administrative penalty."

A lawyer site trying to argue that you need to be at least .10 before impaired.

"In summary, despite the fact that the law requires ICBC to prove that alcohol consumption caused or contributed to an accident, ICBC ignores the law and in almost all situations will hold you in breach of your contract of insurance. Therefore, you are at the mercy of the police officer who may be overaggressive in providing an administrative penalty to you. The implication could be far greater than simply having to pay a fine for the impaired driving. You could be without insurance coverage and that could be a financial disaster."

Most of the insurance agents I've met don't seem like the most technologically savvy people, so at least initially I'd lean more towards it being their dislike of change than flaws in the system.

But see thats exactly it, grass is always greener on the other side. I talked to a few people who had to file a claim on house or car with family insurance and they never had a problem they also said service is much better.

And how many times do we hear ICBC adjusters being unfair or low balling offers? Just because ICBC is a public insurance I don't think we can blindly trust them. That being said in 10 years I been diving I have only filed one glass claim and 2 fender benders that were other persons fault so I have not had a bad experience in any of these.

Its just matter of perspective I guess, people will always have good and bad experiences with both.

The new system is a mix of good things and bad. The interface is literally step by step insurance for dummies system and is all point and click based for the most part. For some idiot learning for the first time it's a easy to use system. For a seasoned veteran that can pump out transactions in mere minutes ICBC has made it a longer process.

As far as we know the old system had 1 person left who was capable of fixing it and this new one is a system used at other insurance companies which has been re worked for how ICBC conducts business.

The system I feel has made the old steps a long process due to the point and click nature of the tasks. Its incredibly frustrating assisting clients now that have been use to the speed factor whereas now no matter how fast one goes we are held up by all the extra pointing and clicking and extra screens added.

Or perhaps licenses shouldn't be handed out like candy to people who can't drive, generally a pilot's license isn't handed out to someone who can't fly based on some perverted sense of being owed such a privilege without showing merit. Driving around the block reveals absolutely nothing about how a driver will be able to handle a vehicle in an emergency, and yet that's all that is required to obtain the most basic license (L). Those kinds of standards are the laughing stock of the world, it is absolutely disgusting that people are allowed to handle multi thousand pound vehicles that could absolutely demolish a crowd of people based on how they can handle suburban cruising.

Then you see articles about how injury claims and repair costs are bankrupting ICBC, well no shit Sherlock, you've let some of the least qualified and under-prepared people in the world loose on the road, what did you expect?

People widely know that ICBC does NOT care about road safety or driver's ability.

In Japan for example, they take driving dead seriously. Same as Germany.
You MUST attend $3,500-$4,500 driving school.

I know for a fact that Japanese parents freak out when ICBC tells their kids that all they have to do is to find their buddy's older brother (as long as he's 25) and drive around on the road.

First and foremost, they will let you use the simulator.
Unlike with ICBC, you MUST be taught by government authorized instructor for whole time. No, not your friend.
http://hinomaru-ds.co.jp/gazou/g014-1.gif
http://articleimage.nicoblomaga.jp/i...1431085914.jpg

Mandatory standard: minimum 34 hours driving lesson & minimum 26 hours of in class lesson.

iIn class lesson, minimum 26 hours
http://www.hinomaru-ds.co.jp/gazou/g016-1.gif

Here's what typical driving school looks like.
Before you're permitted to go on the road with your instructor, you must complete technical ability test.
http://www.meitetsu.ac.jp/mdsl/image...ainphoto01.jpg
http://is-menkyo.com/blog/wp-content...C%E3%82%B9.jpg

Also, unlike ICBC standard, Emergency Maneuver is mandatory skill in Japan. The driving school will use these cars to simulate emergency maneuver during slippery road condition.
http://img-cdn.jg.jugem.jp/d25/61671...07_1224270.jpg
http://www.chusei-ds.com/gifs/vehicle_car_photo05.jpg

The exam will be 100 questions, but 5 of them will be scenario based questions with pictures on it.
The time limit will be 60 min for 95 questions and 30 min for 5 scenario questions. So 1 hr 30 min total.

oh yeah, and the License Renewal is another story too.
You must do quick retest and driving test to show your instructor you're still up to date. Comes with sight & hearing test.

Here in BC, all you have to do is pay ICBC $75 fee every 5 years and THAT'S IT. :lawl:
No re-test, no re-driving test, no sight & hearing test. NOTHING.
It doesn't matter if you're 81 year old, just pay the $75 fee and that's it.

This is only an example of Japan, I know Germany has very tough standard too, as they should.

Are there any C-Lai's driving in Japan or Germany?

I don't know, but my quick research shows followings;

Germany does NOT allow Chinese license, it has something to do with EU/EAA standard.
If you're from USA, depending on what state you're from, you may allowed to drive. Looks like they don't even allow Canadian license.
http://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Doc...ublicationFile

Japan does NOT allow Chinese license. It has something to do with the standard set by Geneva Convention on Road Traffic.
However if you have Canadian license, you will get exempted from exam. So obviously Japan isn't as tough as Germany.
They do also recognize State of Maryland (USA) license as exam exempt.
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http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/...5.files/en.pdf

Population densities:
Japan - 336 ppl/km2
Germany - 234 ppl/km2
Canada - 4 ppl/km2

Having dedicated driving schools with classrooms and simulators and closed circuits is great and all, but it only really works when all your population is close together. It would cost a fortune to have all that set up in Canada.

Do you mean exchanging for a local license? I drove in Germany with my Canadian license and they don't seem to have a problem

As I said, I don't know.

All I did was went on Google and found some info.