What’s New: In Brief (January 03, 2008)

The Insurance Bureau of Canada is praising the success of Canada’s 2007 Operation Red Nose campaign, which provided a total of 76,880 rides throughout seven provinces over the winter holidays.
The IBC said this “was made possible only with the help of more than 53,898 volunteers whose participation was crucial to the tremendous success of the campaign.”
Alberta finished their 2007 Operation Red Nose campaigns with a total of 1,845 rides, thus surpassing the 2006 results by one ride. Just over 1,300 volunteers wore the signature red vest and helped safely drive motorists in their own vehicles in Lethbridge and Edmonton.
In Ontario, IBC linked the success of Operation Red Nose with the fact that, up to Dec. 24, 2007, there were zero alcohol-related collisions in Ontario during the holiday season.
New in 2007 was the launch of a pilot project in Toronto’s historic Distillery District, which allowed consumers to take advantage of a safe drive home to anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area between Dec. 12 and Dec. 15, 2007.

Insurers, collision repairers and industry experts will be meeting at the Canadian Collision Industry Forum on Jan. 26, 2008 to “share their knowledge and secrets on how to survive and prosper in a rapidly changing business environment.”
The Forum will be held at the Marriott Toronto Airport, located at 901 Dixon Road in Toronto.
“CCIF Toronto will reveal what’s driving changes in the relationships between insurers and collision repairers, and how insurer repair policies and procedures could be standardized and simplified,” CCIF wrote in a press release. “You’ll also learn what’s happening with the national accreditation initiative and hear about the risks of delaying conversion to low VOC products and processes.”
To register, contact Pam Bryan at CCIF (Tel: 905-726-9027, Fax: 905-726-9038 or E-mail: administrator@ccif.net), or register online at www.ccif.net.