Impaired drivers lose MPI third-party liability coverage next week

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This article was published 25/07/2023 (831 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Impaired drivers caught damaging other vehicles or property will soon be made to pay back repair costs.

Manitoba Public Insurance board chair Ward Keith and Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced Tuesday that the Crown corporation will begin denying third-party liability coverage to those caught driving drunk or otherwise impaired on Aug. 1.

The public insurer will cover the damage to innocent victims’ vehicles or property, but then seek repayment for the costs from the impaired drivers, the officials said.

“This, we believe, is both logical and consistent with our view of the harm of impaired driving,” Goertzen told reporters at MPI’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters.

“Impaired driving… is a crime and it is a crime that unfortunately, every year, costs individuals their lives and in many ways can have an impact on the entirety of their lives if they’re not killed.”

To be denied coverage, Keith said, a driver will either need to be criminally convicted of impaired driving offences, or be given an immediate roadside driving prohibition under the Highway Traffic Act.

The measure is the newest penalty for driving drunk or high in the province. Those caught driving impaired can already have their licence suspended and vehicles impounded or fitted with a breath-test machine, and face criminal charges.

“Perhaps, now more than ever, it is just not worth it,” Keith said, adding impaired driving “continues to be a major contributing factor” in road deaths, injuries and collisions, noting there is an average 26 impaired-driving-related fatalities on Manitoba roads yearly.

So far this year seven people have been killed in impaired-driving collisions, he said.

Impaired drivers who get into collisions are already denied coverage for their own vehicles, as well as for vehicles that were lent to them by someone else if the owner knew they were driving impaired.

Over the last five years the insurer paid an average of 178 third-party liability claims per year on behalf of impaired drivers, amounting to about $2.2 million a year, or about $12,500 a claim, Keith said.

“Today, these costs are paid by MPI, which effectively means they’re being paid by all Manitobans who pay into the insurance fund, and that is not right,” he said.

That’s money the insurer will now move to claw back.

“We have a department that looks after the recovery of money, so there are all sorts of ways that can be done, including refusal to renew a driver licence, refusing to renew vehicle insurance and registration,” Keith said.

“The nice thing about having a public insurance model in Manitoba is our debtors never go very far and have to continue to deal with us.”

The MPI chair noted Saskatchewan and British Columbia, which also have public automobile insurance, have a similar policies to deny third-party liability claims to impaired drivers.

Trevor Enns, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s local chapter, said the organization wholeheartedly endorses the new measure.

“It is a crucial step towards ensuring safer roads and stronger consequences to those who choose to drive under the influence,” Enns said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca