Class 4 licence drivers definitively safer: academic

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – To hear some ridehailing proponents tell it, there isn’t much of a safety difference between a Class 4 and a Class 5 licence.

But as that debate rages on and some backers of those services try to push British Columbia to ease that requirement for rideshare drivers ahead of a rollout later this year, one academic argues the numbers are clear.

Class 5 licence holders had 13 per cent more accidents than Class 4 drivers in 2016, according to ICBC statistics cited by Sauder School of Business professor emeritus Garland Chow.

Chow also points out there 17 per cent more crashes by Class 5 holders in 2015, 45 per cent more in 2014 and 7 per cent in 2013.

He argues if the province buckles to this push to drop that requirement for ridehailing services like Uber and Lyft, we’ll see more crashes as a result.

“I estimate that there would be approximately 500 more accidents a year were you to substitute Class 5 drivers for Class 4 drivers using the base of 2,000 taxi drivers,” says Chow.

And he points out that 13 per cent figure doesn’t even factor in time driven.

“In British Columbia, the typical Class 5 driver drives anywhere from 13,000 to 15,000 kilometres per year, but a commercial taxi driver easily drives 75,000 kilometres a year,” says Chow.

He says if you look at that aspect, Class 5 drivers are involved in four times as many collisions.