Accident reporting threshold increase

The province of Alberta will be raising the value of the collision requiring police involvement in a vehicle accident from $1000 to $2000. Alberta had not changed this amount in 20 years. They're hoping that the increase will free police from being involved in minor collisions where there is no injury.

There are a couple of problems. First of all, most people cannot accurately gauge how much their vehicle damage is worth when they get into an accident, so they tend to play it safe and call the police. Second, although the insurance companies say there's no need to get a police report if the damage is below the threshold amount, you still have to pay your deductible if the other party does not agree to liability. For this reason alone, a lot of people prefer to get the police involved because a police report can often indicate whose fault it is when the person at fault denies liability.

The only way that I see the police getting a break on attending accident aftermaths is for us to adopt no-fault insurance. Then it doesn't matter. You pay your damages, the other parties pay theirs. That was not an endorsement for no-fault in case you're wondering.