Canadian Lawyer

48 M A Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m the government says it wants to do — reduce bad driving." In Ontario, McLeish Orlando's Patrick Brown says that fatality rates due to motor vehicle accidents reached a record high in 2017, at least in part due to the increase in pedestrians and bicyclists in cities such as Toronto and the speed of vehicles. "Toron- to is less car-free in its urban core than other cities," he notes. Last September, NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo introduced a private member's bill designed to prevent injuries and deaths among vulnerable road users including cyclists, pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, emergency responders on the road and road construction workers. The bill was supported by a coalition of cit- izens' and bicyclists' groups. Days earlier, Brown, a member of the coalition, had spoken at a press conference, calling on the attorney general to follow several U.S. jurisdictions in implementing a vulner- able road user law. The initiative did not meet with success. "If you kill a pedestrian with your car, there's a huge likelihood that you won't be charged; though if you are, [you] will walk away with a $500 fine," says Brown. Injuries from motor vehicle acci- dents in Ontario are classified as minor, non-catastrophic and catastrophic, and 85 per cent of claims are for minor injuries, Brown says. In 2010, minor injuries were capped at $3,500, but in 2016, insurers said, "we want to lower the benefits avail- able for serious injuries" as well, Brown says. "Before 2016, a person who was cat- astrophically injured . . . had $2 mil- lion worth of benefits to pay for medical rehabilitation and attendant care" and loss of income. That cap was then lowered to $1 million. The cap for non-catastrophic injuries, which had been $100,000, was reduced to $65,000, he says. Brown says the push to lower caps, driven by the insurance industry and sup- ported by the government, is due to most of the driving public wanting low insur- ance premiums and insurers' concern for their bottom lines. But an insurer's prof- itability is also dependent on how effi- ciently the company is run, Brown says. "A lot of people feel that before you start attacking benefits, why not look at the efficient companies, which are operating at a profit," by effectively employing new technologies, for example. A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL THAT BEFORE YOU START ATTACKING BENEFITS, WHY NOT LOOK AT THE EFFICIENT COMPANIES, WHICH ARE OPERATING AT A PROFIT, [BY EFFECTIVELY EMPLOYING NEW TECHNOLOGIES, FOR EXAMPLE.] THE EASY SOLUTION IS TO CUT BENEFITS, BUT IT'S NOT THE RIGHT SOLUTION. PATRICK BROWN, McLeish Orlando L E G A L R E P O RT \ P E R S O N A L I N J U RY Access the UK Common Law Library online with Thomson Reuters NEW © 2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00249QJ-90804-CE The UK Common Law Library is now a click away with WestlawNext Canada and Westlaw UK Research more intuitively with seamless access to 12 essential titles. Don't interrupt your research to track down the references you need. Link directly to the world's most important common law resources and enjoy the same look, feel, features, and functionality you rely on with WestlawNext Canada. For more information, please visit www.westlawnextcanada.com/uk-commentary

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