For the third time in as many years, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. is hoping to increase basic insurance rates for drivers.

If the Crown corporation's application to the B.C. Utilities Commission is approved, basic rates will go up by about 5.5 per cent as of Nov. 1. That includes a 0.3-per-cent increase that was deferred last year.

ICBC says drivers will pay an average of $36 more per year, with the average driver paying about $1,440 per year (including optional coverage).

"The key factor driving insurance rates is the rising cost of injury claims," said ICBC spokesman Adam Grossman.

"Here in B.C., in 2013, our injury claims in one year were $1.9 billion. That's up by more than $500 million from just five years ago."

While basic premiums have been rising in recent years, ICBC has been steadily lowering its optional insurance rates, something Grossman attributes to a dramatic decline in auto crime and relatively flat costs for repairing damaged vehicles.

But the number of injury claims has gone up by between 2,000 and 4,000 claims annually in the past five years, Grossman said. Over that period, he said the average cost per claim has gone up by about $10,000, which ICBC attributes to higher legal and medical costs.

"That might not sound like a lot but 4,000 injury claims costs us $180 million," he said.

According to ICBC, an increase in distracted driving plays a big role in the rising number of claims and ensuing legal costs.

"Rear-end crashes resulting in injury have been increasing faster than other types of crashes," Grossman said, adding they've gone up by 14 per cent since 2009, which corresponds to the mass adoption of smartphones.

The top contributing factor in those crashes was distraction, followed by driving too close behind another vehicle, and driver error or confusion.

Grossman said distracted driving is now the second leading cause of car crash fatalities in B.C., with an average of 88 people killed each year.

But critics of ICBC suspect there's more to the rate increases than just a rise in distracted driving.

"I think distracted driving, ironically enough, is meant to distract us from some of the bigger issues at ICBC," said Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation.

"This is a company that just dished out millions of dollars in refunds due to a flawed computer system. It's a company that pays their managers and executives very well. It's a company that sends millions of dollars to government to fund government services. There's plenty of nits to pick with ICBC."

Vancouver lawyer Eric Goodman said that ICBC could do much more to decrease its legal costs when it comes to injury claims.

"The reason why legal expenses have risen is because ICBC is becoming less and less interested in making reasonable offers early in the litigation. The result is that these injury claims are open longer and at a far greater expense," he said.

His firm has filed access-to-information requests with ICBC, and discovered that between 2008 and 2012 there was an increase of more than 2,000 open claims that were two years or older.

As each case drags on, Goodman said that ICBC is on the hook for medical experts and lawyers to defend their claim, as well as the injured person's lawyer and medical reports.

According to ICBC, less than one per cent of injury claims end up going to trial, but Goodman said that figure doesn't give the whole picture.

"Files are being kept open for five years instead of two. There's no need to have the extra three years of having to pay costs."

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

blindsay@vancouversun.com

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