District wants ICBC to collect and share vehicle data

District of Squamish wants the province to ask ICBC to collect vehicle data when drivers renew their vehicle insurance, and then report that information to the district.

The district’s request comes as a resolution to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) conference.

District wants the UBCM to endorse the resolution that would require ICBC to collect mileage data during driver’s licence renewal and then share kilometres driven and fuel and vehicle type annually with Squamish and other local governments.

District says local governments struggle to find accurate data that quantifies the transportation emissions in their municipality or region.

Having data on the emissions would help local governments develop local action plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, district says.

Emissions from the transportation sector have grown 42% since 1990, and the provincial transportation sector accounts for about 37 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in BC.

The Resolutions Committee of UBCM has advised that it has not previously considered a resolution calling on ICBC to collect such data and share information about kilometres drive or fuel type to local governments.

However, the committee did note that the membership endorsed a similar resolution by the City of Delta in 2010.

The resolution by the City of Delta called on ICBC to collect and release aggregate data, the estimate of vehicle kilometers traveled by vehicle class, for example, so  local governments can use it to implement transportation-related climate action initiatives.