Barriere mayor calls for stricter penalties when out-of-province drivers break the law

BARRIERE, B.C. – Three highway fatalities in the last month have prompted the mayor of Barriere to push for provincial changes for drivers from outside of B.C.

Currently, aside from criminal charges, drivers from elsewhere don’t have to pay fines for driving offences in B.C.

“We’ve seen time and time again, out-of-province drivers who are driving erratically and dangerously, and unless they cause a crash,” Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer told CFJC Today. “There’s no way of actually penalizing them and that doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.”

In a letter to B.C. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming, Stamer highlights the lack of power B.C. RCMP have when it comes to enforcing laws for those insured in other provinces.

Local RCMP are only able to see whether or not a licence is valid. They aren’t able to access previous road violations either in BC or from other provinces. This means any demerits given out in B.C. won’t follow them home or affect their insurance.

“Even if we give them a speeding ticket for driving too fast, they don’t have to pay it. I find that that’s totally unacceptable,” Stamer explained.

British Columbia is one of only three provinces excluded from the Canadian Driver License Compact – an agreement that shares resident driving records between the provinces.

Despite British Columbia opting out more than 30 years ago, Stamer wants the ministry to reconsider.

“He [Fleming] could get ICBC to share that information from their insurance company to the insurance companies out of province,” Stamer said. “By doing that, that would probably increase the rates of insurance on those drivers, similar to if they were having driving infractions in their own province.”

When CFJC Today reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment, we received a statement saying, “driver licensing and penalties are the responsibility of ICBC”, and that Stamer’s letter had been shared with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

“We appreciate our collaborative relationship with the mayor and his input on how to improve safety,” the statement said. “Our focus on road safety includes stepped-up CVSE enforcement of commercial vehicles along the route, carefully considering any recommendations resulting from RCMP crash investigations and undertaking an engineering review to better understand highway safety performance.”