FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
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Front and centre on the current round of increases is Ontario’s most popular motorcycle underwriter, TD General Insurance. Together with subsidiary Primmum Insurance, the firm filed for rate increases in 2014 of 9.16 per cent and 9.14 per cent respectively, and in 2015 they were granted further increases of 25 per cent and 24.59 per cent.
http://www.wheels.ca/news/
There are plenty of other laws which relate specifically to motorcycle and bike accidents in Ontario which you probably aren’t familiar with because they often aren’t enforced by local police. But, these laws are available to the police whenever they’d like to use them. We have seen a lot of cases whereby cyclists are ticketed for riding their bikes on the sidewalk, even though they’ve been injured by a negligent motorist in a car accident. The police will look to ticket to cyclist for riding on the side walk. Our personal injury lawyers have seen at least 4 of those cases in London, ON were the London City Police have been aggressive in issuing these tickets even though the cyclist appears to have done nothing wrong other than ride their bike on the sidewalk. Even though a motorist may have ran a red light, the police are still aggressive in issuing these sort of tickets.
Link to: Inquiry into Medical Evidence petition
FAIR has put together a paper version of the petition calling for a Public Inquiry into the medical evidence used in our courts and administrative tribunals. It is the same as the one we have asked you to sign online.
The Ontario Legislature ONLY accepts ORIGINAL petitions, on paper, with ‘hand signed’ signatures. There are strict rules for petitions so NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh’s office has generously agreed to receive the paper petition in his office and present it at Queen’s Park.
If you or a loved one were injured in an auto accident, at work or elsewhere wouldn’t you want an honest, unbiased and qualified medical opinion/report of your injuries? That’s just not happening in Ontario for injured and disabled individuals who make a claim for benefits through their private or public insurers. What if it was your fault that something happens to someone else? You’d want them to have the best chance at recovery wouldn’t you?
Please print, sign and circulate the petition because quality and qualified medical evidence shouldn’t be something we need – it should be something we already have because there is no real justice without it.
Make a copy and mail the ORIGINAL copies to: MPP Jagmeet Singh, Room 172 Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park 111 Wellesley St. Toronto, ON M7A 1A5
Thanks for being part of the collective voice needed for change!
Other On-line petition: https://www.change.org/p/the-legislative-assembly-of-ontario-support-a-public-inquiry-into-medical-evidence-in-ontario-s-courts-and-tribunals (these signatures are also important to make our point elsewhere and it gives those on-line the power and opportunity to use their voice)
While there is rhetoric and howls on both sides of the legislative aisle, the fact remains: The standard wording in your policy will default to you receiving fewer benefits and lower coverage in two key areas as of June 1, 2016. If your policy was renewed earlier this year, you will not see the new changes come into effect until your next renewal. But if you buy or renew a policy after June 1, the impact is immediate.
http://driving.ca/auto-news/
If you renewed your policy earlier this year, the changes will affect you the next time your policy renews. If you buy a new policy or renew on or after June 1, 2016, here’s what’s different.
Following a motor vehicle accident on June 23, 2008, the claimant sought accident benefits from her insurer. The insurer advised her by letter that she may be eligible for either an IRB or a CGB, but that only one benefit could be paid at any one time. The only information given to the claimant regarding the duration of an IRB was that it would have been limited to 12 to 16 weeks if her injuries fell within the Grade I Whiplash Guideline/Grade II Whiplash Guideline. The claimant selected a CGB on her OCF-10 Election of Income Replacement, Non-Earner, or Caregiver benefits form.
About 10% of Canadians live in poverty. That figure is even higher in major cities, such as Toronto where the number of children living below the line is nearly 25%. In India, 22% of the people live in poverty. A “guaranteed annual income” (GAI) could wipe out this poverty at a stroke.
http://dissidentvoice.org/
TORONTO, June 1, 2016 / – Today is Auto Insurance Awareness Day and it is the day that Ontario drivers lose $1 million in auto insurance coverage.
Ontario’s wealthy insurance companies continue to see high profit levels while drivers, who pay the highest premiums in Canada, continue to see their coverage eroded to the lowest level in 25 years.
“It isn’t just Ontario’s most injured auto accident survivors that are being asked to pay the price for higher insurer profits” says Rhona DesRoches, Chair of FAIR, “the length of time that an injured person can collect from their insurer has a much shorter time frame and this will affect the public supports systems we have in the province.”
Insurers will be reducing the duration limit of medical and rehabilitation benefits from 10 years to 5 years for all claimants (except children) and stripping millions out of coverage.
“For those that are not working, such as students at the time of an accident, the cuts are really going to hurt if you are seriously injured” says DesRoches. “These individuals will now only receive $185.00 a week for 2 years instead of $320 a week over a lifetime if they suffer a complete inability to carry on a normal life. This represents hundreds of thousands of dollars those victims won’t be able to access and these costs will be passed on to the unsuspecting taxpayer.”
Ontario’s social nets and healthcare coverage are already under significant stress with the number of individuals dependent on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) considerably higher since the last round of auto insurance cuts in 2010.
The Minister of Finance’s recent report on the healthcare costs of treating accident victims revealed that taxpayers are paying the lion’s share of victim’s medical costs with a shortfall in 2013/14 of almost a quarter of a billion dollars that year.
“We have to ask ourselves, do we already have publicly funded auto insurance when the taxpayer is already subsidizing so much of the costs?” asked DesRoches.
The Ontario government recently stripped away the Charter right of victims to access our civil courts to hold their insurer accountable by setting up a new hearings system to handle the tens of thousands of unpaid claims each year. So far this year there has been over 18,000 claims filed by victims who have been denied the benefits they’ve paid for.
Auto insurance in Ontario is changing and resources for victims will have to come from the taxpayers in the future. Ontario needs to make a plan and commit to deciding whether No-Fault insurance is still working for consumers.
‘FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education’
SOURCE: FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform. For further information: fairautoinsurance@gmail.com
Upcoming changes to auto insurance mean Ontario drivers will need to take more interest in their insurance policy this year.
Beginning June 1st, auto insurance policies in Ontario will change. The most significant update is the change in Accident Benefit coverage. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, Accident Benefits cover expenses like rehabilitation. Typically we assume medical expenses are covered by OHIP, but in the event of injury from a car accident, your insurance policy comes into play.