BC pedestrians and cyclists may no longer need to pay for involvement in crashes

ICBC is changing some of its policies around pedestrians and cyclists.

The changes come after a highly controversial insurance case that involved cyclist Ben Bolliger, who was expected to pay thousands of dollars to a driver after causing damage to a car.

While ICBC’s changes don’t mean that cyclists or other vulnerable commuters will never have to pay, ICBC says there will be fewer occurrences of it happening.

“Additionally, claims involving a cyclist or pedestrian who has suffered a non-severe injury will be carefully considered by a committee of experts. These changes mean that moving forward, the instances of when ICBC may seek recovery from cyclists or pedestrians will be much more limited.”

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ICBC states that it won’t be seeking recovery for costs in certain clearly defined situations.

Those situations include the following:

• Where a cyclist or pedestrian has suffered a severe or catastrophic injury.

• If there has been a fatality.

• When ICBC must determine liability as 50/50 because there is not enough evidence to determine what happened.

Bolliger’s case shed light on other cyclists who dealt with similar penalties for crashes they were involved in and were maybe not at fault for. Bolliger has stated online that a Mercedes blew a stop sign before running into him. He’s been fighting for ICBC to change its policies ever since.

Tomorrow morning the @LawyerCycling and I will be on @CKNW to talk about my $3700 bill I got from @icbc to repair the car that hit me while I was biking & why we need serious changes to the current “no fault” insurance regime in BC. pic.twitter.com/roJveKvYNR

— Ben Bolliger (@benbolliger) April 3, 2022

“Additionally, claims involving a cyclist or pedestrian who has suffered a non-severe injury will be carefully considered by a committee of experts. These changes mean that moving forward, the instances of when ICBC may seek recovery from cyclists or pedestrians will be much more limited,” reads the ICBC statement.

While Bolliger is celebrating the news, he also thinks more work should be done.

Moments ago @ICBC announced changes to their policies in collecting damages from seriously injured cyclists and pedestrians. “ICBC will no longer seek recovery for costs in some clearly defined situations” This is one big step in the right direction. https://t.co/fvMGig8KXW

— Ben Bolliger (@benbolliger) May 4, 2022

For Bolliger’s case, ICBC is now holding the vehicle driver 100% responsible for the crash, meaning Bolliger is not liable for any damages.