AUGUST 14, 1996
GOVERNMENT FORCED PHOTO RADAR ON ICBC

VANCOUVER -- An investigation by Vancouver newsweekly BC Report, has
uncovered strong evidence that photo radar was brought in as a political
measure to raise money and was never an initiative of ICBC's to save
lives and reduce insurance claims.

"What amazes me is the gutlessness of the senior managers at our
insurance monopoly," SENSE co-founder Ian Tootill says.  "They're
supposed to be an independent Crown corporation, but if BC Report's
story is true, they seem to spend most of their time on the phone to
Victoria looking for advice on what to do next.  This now explains why
ICBC's assertions about speed's role in accidents contradicts SENSE's
research."

This week's edition (August 19, 1996) of BC Report charts the history of
photo radar from it's inception as a gleam in former transport minister
Jackie Pement's eye in 1993 to its installation on BC's highways earlier
this month.  A former ICBC manager told the politically-conservative
magazine that ICBC never believed speeding was a crucial factor in
traffic safety, but it had photo radar forced on it by the minister
anyway.

As a result, the source says, the corporation was "sold a bill of goods"
and the hoped for savings of $120 million in reduced damage and injury
claims is largely illusory - "they will save very little of that - if
any."

The former manager calls the much promoted public-consultation process a
'sham' and that neither the government nor ICBC ever intended for the
public to be truly consulted.  Only 'selected and anointed' lobby groups
are invited to the meetings.  To add to the cynicism, he says, the more
'gullible' motoring writers were identified, wined, dined, and enlisted
to spread propaganda about the supposed benefits of photo radar.

"Photo radar has been kicked out of jurisdiction after jurisdiction in
the US," Tootill says.  "Once the media twig to photo radar's high costs
and the lies told by government and insurers about its benefits, the
system's days are numbered."