What’s New: In Brief (December 21, 2006)

More effort is needed to keep Canadian roads safe from drunk drivers, according to a Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) poll.
The poll asked drivers if they drove at times when they felt they might be above the legal alcohol limit. The results suggest that respondents each made an average of 10.2 trips last year after consuming more than the legal limit of alcohol.
However, only 4.4% of the drivers polled accounted for 92.4% of the trips noted above. In other words, repeat offenders may be a big part of the drunk-driving issue.
According to the poll, at least 80% of Canadians are extremely concerned about drinking and driving, more so than other social issues (such as terrorism or the economy). There is clear support for efforts to deal with the problem. More than 70% of the Canadians surveyed agree with mandatory ignition interlocks, physical coordination tests, vehicle impoundment, and increased police spot checks to prevent drinking and driving.

Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc. (FMRO) has entered an agreement to buy more than US$2.5 million of technology from Magic Software Enterprises.
The Magic Software technology services, eDeveloper and iBOLT, are intended to be used for the implementation phase of a custom reinsurance system that includes integration of Oracle J.D. Edwards World software on the IBM System I (formerly iSeries) platform.
The system will provide business process innovations and enhancements for FMRP’s members.
Based in Cambridge, Ontario, FMRP has engaged Magic Software Enterprises, Inc. of California to provide assistance during the third phase of a consulting project for a custom reinsurance system. The system spans business processes across all of FMRP’s reinsurance operations.
The fully integrated system is expected to go into live production in 2007.