Vancouver's head of traffic policing also identifies targeted enforcement as one of the keys to the recent revitalization of that city's road safety efforts. Supporting essentially this same position, the authors of a recently completed province-wide study of traffic policing conclude that a systematic, committed approach with community involvement is required in order for road safety to receive the same priority as other areas of enforcement. As an ICBC manager of corporate policy writes, the corporation has evolved far beyond its beginnings as an insurance company and is now responsible for a great number of enforcement-like activities that advance its social mandate as a public insurer, reducing losses and controlling premiums. The Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, whose office is now contained within ICBC, describes how discretion must be exercised even when administering the rules to get unsafe drivers off the road. In our modern society, being charged with administrative authority does not convey absolute power.
Regulatory authorities are subject to all sorts of checks and balances.
For example, ICBC operates under the scrutiny of the provincial government and the Legislative Assembly. As well, like all other government operations, it is open to the scrutiny of the Ombudsman and, of course, the courts. In a closing article, the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman explain that laws and regulations cannot predict or cover every instance, and that ultimately fairness must prevail. If our laws were administered in the strictest terms, we would live in a rather cold and discomforting world. Indeed, it would be an absurd world, for life simply isn't so cut and dried but abounds in variety, change, and mystery.