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Cyclist suffers broken arm after being struck by motorist who drove through stop sign – then has to pay $3,700 to repair damages to car

Ben Bolliger, who was adjudged to be equally at fault for the collision, says his case highlights the flaws and anti-cycling bias in British Columbia’s no-fault insurance system

A Canadian cyclist who was struck by a law-breaking motorist, leaving him in hospital, has been handed a $3,700 bill from the provincial vehicle insurer to repair the bonnet and windscreen of the driver’s car.

Vancouver resident Ben Bolliger said that he was cycling to get lunch in the city last summer when a motorist, driving a Mercedes-Benz, drove through a stop sign and struck him, breaking his arm and snapping his bike in two.

“I may have entered the intersection going maybe five kilometres an hour and I was thrown 14 metres,” Bolliger told CBC. “They removed many pieces of windshield from my back. I think in the end I received close to 97 sutures and staples.” 

However, when the incident was assessed by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), Bolliger was found to be 50 percent at fault for the collision. The cyclist was then told he had to pay almost $4,000 to fix the damage to the car.

Bolliger thinks that his case highlights the flaws and anti-cycling bias in ICBC’s controversial new no-fault insurance system.

Introduced in May 2021, the new system removed the right of an individual to sue for personal injuries and vehicle damage caused by a motor vehicle accident in British Columbia “in all but very limited circumstances”.

ICBC promised the new scheme would save the average motorist $400 a year in premiums, while also redirecting money formerly spent on legal costs to benefit those injured in crashes.

The corporation told CBC that investigators review all evidence before reaching a decision and that in claims involving conflicting accounts or insufficient evidence “responsibility for the crash may be split”. Decisions can then be appealed through the civil resolution process.

However, Bolliger said: “They are treating my bike as if it's an uninsured vehicle... just as they would a car, which in my mind is bonkers.

“And under this new no-fault insurance regime — which seems comical at this point — there is really no or very little recourse for cyclists.”

> Cycle insurance - avoid catastrophe, check your bike's fully covered 

Another cyclist in Vancouver, Alecia Sharp, was struck by a motorist who she says jumped a red light at the junction of a major bike route in the city.

However, ICBC told her that she was 100 percent at fault for the crash because she entered the junction from a stop sign, though she will not have to pay for any damage.

“I waited until I had the pedestrian walk sign,” she said. “But because I left on a stretcher, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any information from the scene. So I don't know about the car that hit me and I wasn't able to get any witness information, either.”

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A specialist cycling lawyer says that the two cases underline the lack of fairness in the ICBC’s new system, and called on local bike riders to wear helmet or body cameras so they can provide clear evidence in the result of a crash.

“After [the introduction of] no-fault, the ability to challenge any decision that ICBC makes, including liability, was removed or severely restricted,” said David Hay. “Under the old system, you could retain counsel to create some leverage... In the new world, you can't pursue damages.”

Cycling campaign group HUB also criticised the existing Motor Vehicle Act, which it says does little to protect vulnerable road users in British Columbia.

HUB spokesperson Jeff Leigh said: “It's very outdated and doesn't do much for people walking or people cycling. A specific vulnerable road user law would be a big step forward.”

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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10 comments

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peted76 | 1 year ago
7 likes

I read about this on twitter last week, it's an absolute travesty.

There was some talk on twitter about the cyslist getting some pro-bono legal help.. which I certainly hope does make a mockery of this and expose the loophole to be as ridiculous as it appears.

 

Avatar
joe9090 | 1 year ago
4 likes

Those injuries look horrific. I would want 20-30k in comp for that trauma if the other driver had been negligent in any way at all. If I were him I would be calling Saul Goodman (or his RL equivelent) ASAP. 

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
7 likes

Is this what happens when car-based corporations take over policing of the roads?   I'm struggling to work out why no police appear to have been called in either of the reported cases; surely law enforcement should have been there taking witness statements and collision particulars?  Under this system, it appears that driving which seriously injures vulnerable road users doesn't even get reported.

We need somebody legally qualified from British Columbia to explain this.  Another place to cross off the list for potential cycle tours.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
7 likes

How does an insurance scheme supercede personal injury laws? I don't understand why it would reduce the rights of someone who is not required to use it.

Edit: Looks like British Colombia signed it into law (after extensive lobbying by ICBC). However, looks like parts of it is being challenged as it's infringing people's constitutional rights to justice: https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/bc-news/icbc-tribunal-partly-unconstitutional-bc-supreme-court-3473050

What's really f**ked up is that ICBC are treating cyclists as being at fault due to them being an "uninsured driver".

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

Are they treating peds the same?

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hawkinspeter replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
1 like
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Are they treating peds the same?

Don't know, but presumably they wouldn't get away with classifying a ped as a vehicle without insurance.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

Maybe not, but wondering if a car knocks down a ped, but they decide that said person walking into the road without fully looking whether the Pedestrian (or their family) would be charged with paying for damage to the car / windscreen. 

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Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
4 likes

Insanity. When a local Govt scheme drowns under its own rules. 
Hope this is challengable at Federal level or whatever the equivalent is in Canada. 

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nosferatu1001 replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
1 like

It sounds like at least parts of it are being challenged as unconstitutional - in the uk it would be a breach of the echr, for example, as it's denying access to justice. 

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brooksby replied to nosferatu1001 | 1 year ago
2 likes

Don't worry - there won't be any breach or conflict soon: I'm pretty sure our Govt wants to remove anything to do with the ECHR or the Human Rights Act from legislation...

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