The number of insured vehicles on south Island roads has increased by over 4% between 2018 and 2022, according to statistics released by ICBC.

 

 

Between Sooke and Sidney, including the unincorporated areas of Shirley, Otter Point and East Sooke, there were 285,415 “vehicle insurance policies in force” in 2022, compared to 274,060 in 2018, a difference of 4.14% or 11,355 units. The data includes passenger and commercial vehicles, motorhomes and motorcycles or mopeds.

 

With the West Shore being the fastest growing area of the CRD, it predictably the highest growth in vehicle ownership at a 10.88% average. Langford saw its insurance registrations increase by 13.77% to 33,515 vehicles, followed by Sooke at a 12.59% lift to 12,964 vehicles. Shirley, a community west of Sooke, had the largest percentage increase among south Island communities at 16.87%, albeit with a total of only 485 vehicles. Highlands, though, jumped by 15.98% to 2,119 vehicles and Metchosin reached 5,017 vehicles at 4.74% growth.

 

East Sooke’s vehicle count rose to 1,848 at a 10.66% growth rate, while Otter Point (abutting Sooke to the west) had its vehicle stock grow to 2,086 at an 8.48% growth rate.

 

Colwood had the West Shore’s lowest increase of only 3.94% to 14,603 vehicles.

 

According to the 2021 federal census, the West Shore population grew by approximately 22% (not including East Sooke or other unincorporated areas) between 2016 and 2021, compared to its vehicle growth rate of just under 11% between 2018 and 2022.

 

The Saanich Peninsula was the vehicle growth rate rate runner-up, where Sidney posted a 6.42% increase to 9,545 vehicles as North Saanich and Central Saanich had a 5.35% and 4.78% rise, respectively, to 11,698 and 19,177 vehicles, respectively. Between 2016 and 2021, the Saanich Peninsula grew by 5.5% as did its 2018-2022 volume of vehicles.

 

In the Capital’s urban core, View Royal, the in-between of the core and the West Shore, grew its vehicle stock by 7.93% to 9,346 units. The City of Victoria had a growth rate of 1.37% to 55,233 vehicles, as did Esquimalt, to 11,815 vehicles. Saanich had the slowest growth rate among south Island municipalities of only 0.97% to 83,779 vehicles, and Oak Bay had the only negative growth rate of -0.67% to 12,185 vehicles.

 

In the last census, the core had a growth rate of 4.3% and an average vehicle growth rate of 0.77%.

 

It should be noted, however, that vehicle insurance policies in force dropped almost unanimously among the Capital Region’s municipalities between 2021 and 2022, due to an uptick in private vehicle use during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

 

Province-wide, ICBC reports 3,583,308 polices were in force in 2022, a growth rate of 8.11% over 2018. On Vancouver Island specifically, 682,514 polices were in force, a rise of 5.85% over 2018. C