A recent decision by ICBC gives city bylaw officers more discretion in deciding whether they should issue tickets to vehicle owners.
ICBC's restoration of phone access gives city employees more timely information on problem vehicles, said the head of the city bylaw department.
Guy Gusdal said bylaw officers can now talk to vehicle owners about what the problem may be, rather than just issuing a ticket.
ICBC spokesperson Adam Grossman confirmed that some municipalities lost their ability to access information via phone, but it was recently restored after consulting with the affected communities.
Gusdal said the city sent a letter of complaint to the insurance corporation shortly before the decision was reversed.
According to the Union of B.C. Municipalities, some local governments were experiencing problems in getting the information fast enough over the past few months .
These local governments were informed by ICBC that it was changing how it did business and was only willing to provide registered vehicle information once a violation ticket was issued and not before.
But in some cases, that meant tickets couldn't be issued without the name and address of the owner.
"We take protection of our customers' personal information very seriously," said Grossman. "We need to be sure that when personal information is released, it is released for the reasons, and to the requestors, that are allowed under privacy law."
Gusdal said Prince George employees had online access, but due to city firewalls they had difficulty in getting what they needed.
"If it hadn't gone back and changed, we would have to be far more hardline in what we were doing," Gusdal said.
He used the example of campers or trailers that are sometimes left parked on a residential street during the summer for longer than the 24 hours allowed for any vehicle.
"If we weren't able to look up ownership then we're knocking on every single door, hoping the owner 'fessed up and said 'it's mine' or we have to tow it away," Gusdal explained. With the information, the officer could make the call to knock on the right door and have a conversation with the owner instead.
"And getting that conversation, you find someone who may not be aware of the violation and resolve it that way," he added. "We want compliance, not necessarily tickets at the end of the day."
The insurance corporation said they are reviewing the information sharing agreements with all the province's municipalities to ensure they have "the access to information they require while also remaining in compliance with the applicable legislation," Grossman said.
