There was a time when I could call Suzanne Anton on her cell, leave a message and expect a call back within minutes, or at least the same day.
But that was when Anton was a city councillor. Now that shes this provinces minister of justice and attorney general, shes got people communications people, who take my calls and see what they can do about getting Anton to call me back.
I found this out last week when I wanted to hear from Anton on what she was going to do about all those unpaid tickets issued to cyclists for not wearing a helmet. Were talking more than $300,000 in fines over the past five years.
Some background: A few weeks ago, I learned the Vancouver Police Department issued almost 1,800 tickets in 2012 to cyclists for not wearing a helmet. A few of those were given to parents for allowing their child to ride without a helmet.
The statistics, of course, begged the question: How many of those people issued the $29 fine actually dutifully plunked down their cash and accepted responsibility for having a good hair day? I called up the Insurance Corporation of B.C. and gave them a few days to crunch the numbers for me. But I just didnt want to see the data for 2012. Go back at least five years, I asked.
And they did and the statistics were alarming/not surprising/interesting in a city where cycling is becoming more popular, as Mayor Gregor Robertson and his ruling Vision Vancouver council will tell you.
As I reported June 12, more than 11,000 cyclists who were issued tickets in Vancouver over the past five years for not wearing a helmet refused to pay their $29 fine. The statistics showed only 1,771 cyclists of 13,154 paid their fines between 2008 and 2012.
So when you do the math, you arrive at that $300,000 figure I mentioned at the top of this entry. To provide some context, $300,000 would sure help pay the $700,000 tab for the citys latest cycling upgrades along Union Street, on the edge of Chinatown.
So that brings me to my phone call to Anton. I was told by the woman who answered the phone at her office that Anton had only been on the job a couple of weeks and needed to be briefed on a number of issues, including unpaid fines. Understandable, I guess.
What I did receive is an emailed response from Sam MacLeod, the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles. His answer to my question about whether the government would just simply repeal the helmet lawwellwas not exactly an answer.
Instead, MacLeod said the government was committed to reducing injuries and fatalities on the roads and our mandatory helmet law is consistent with that goal. Which, I assume, means the government wont be repealing the law.
As for what the government plans to do to recoup the $300,000 in unpaid fines?
The government sent me a response from Adam Grossman, a spokesman for ICBC. Here, in part, is what he said:
ICBC will look to use a collection agency when weve exhausted all previous avenues via refusing to issue both a drivers licence and/or insurance for any debt owed. A refuse to issue is placed on debt after it is 30 days overdue. If a licence or insurance goes more than a year without being renewed, we will send the debt to a collection agency. If a persons drivers licence renewal is more than three years into the future, we will look at sending the debt out. We will typically not use a collection agency for debt thats less than $50.
Again, the 11,000 tickets were worth $29 each.
twitter.com/Howellings
