ae) 26 - Friday, June 8, 1990 - LAST YEAR, ICBC ad- justers handled 739,000 auto insurance claims. Many were straightforward claims for broken glass or crinkled fenders and involved fairly un- complicated circumstances. Others AutoTopic Ken Hardie INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA were quite unusual and provided the adjusters involved with a real test of their knowledge and skills. An adjuster’s job is to gather in- formation about a claim and to try to determine who, if anyone, is liable for the incident, what in- surance coverages are available and what kind of compensation represents a fair and reasonable settlement of the claim. This week, we'd like you to take on that rele in an unusual incident taken from an actual claim file. The situation involved three motorists. Driver ‘‘A’’ passed a sports car operated by driver ‘‘B’’ ‘Intelligent’ cars, roads help reduce congestion “SMART” CARS and ‘‘in- telligent’’ streets will soon be making it easier to drive in the world’s most crowded cities. Ambitious projects are now under way simultaneously in Europe, Japan and North America to develop computerized traffic management systems. Streets will be equipped with road sensors and cameras to track traffic flow and determine where traffic jams are forming. This in- formation will be relayed to a cen- tral traffic management centre and then beamed by satellite to a com- puterized information display in each car. A TV monitor in the car display- ing a map of the local area will in- dicate where a traffic tie-up is oc- curring and display an alternative route, or it may give an audible warning such as **Turn left at the next corner,”” Electronic traffic management promises not only to alleviate traf- fic congestion, but the problems that go with it such as traffic safe- ty, pollution, wasted fuci, as well North Shore News AU TOwm™M oT iI and then pulled up at a stop light behind driver “°C.” Driver B and his friends...their male egos wounded by being pass- ed, drew up behind A, got out of their sports car, and proceeded to smash the windows in A’s car. As broken glass sprayed into his car, A ducked down behind the dash. The vandals, considering their point to have been made, got back into their sports car and fled the scene before anyone could note their plate number. The incident was reported to the police. Some time after this event, driver C (the fellow at the head of the line at the stop light) presented a claim to ICBC saying that said A’s vehicle had jolted forward, striking the rear of his car. Driver A could not remember this hap- pening, but couldn’t deny it cither as he had left his car in gear during the attack. Drivers A and C have Third Party Liability coverage as well as collision and comprehensive. Now, as the adjuster, here are the questions you need to answer: 1, Who, if anyone, was negligent in this situation? 2. Who is responsible for (that is, legally liable for) the damages to C's vehicle? 3, What insurance coverage will pay for C’s damages? 4. The vandals who broke A’s windows were not apprehended, so does this leave A with any as the human costs of reduced productivity, lost time, and jangled nerves. Europe is leading the way in this field with an $800 million project begun in 1986 called Prometheus (Program for a European Traffic See Smart Page 27 VY E § Sometimes determining who Who’s to blame? pays for accident isn’t easy coverage for his broken windows? 5. What would happen to C's Claim-Rated Scale discount? 6. What about driver A's dis- count? How would you decide this one? If you like, drop off your sugges- tion at the North Shore News, or mail it to Auto Topic, care of the News at 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4. One more bit of business for this week, and that’s to invite you to attend our Spring Song Concert tonight ai! fomorrow night at the Centennial Theatre at 8 p.m. Our talented siaff choir, the Quay Notes, ant a number of featured soloists “ili perform music by An- drew Llovt Webber, Cole Porter, the Gersesins and Hammerstein SUMMER Get Prepared for Summer Driving Prevent Cosily Breakdowns + tax & shop $A 5 ox 9: cars & light trucks. 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