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Motorcycle Safety and Awareness
Welcome to Think Bike, the podcast about all things motorcycle and the voice of motorcycle safety and awareness in Alberta. Your host is Liane Langlois.
Liane:Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of think bike. We have been having so much fun these last few weeks, recording our guests from the YG motorcycle show. If you didn't come down to the show, I mean, I don't know where you were, but we had a really good time this, that weekend that we were here. Today, I'm really excited to have, Colby Bidwell with us from James h Brown injury lawyers.
Liane:We had Trent on last year to kinda introduce the partnership, but Colby's with us today to talk about different things, which we'll get into. But right now, I just wanna know, aside from that magical mustache, Colby, who who are you, and why did you go into injury law?
Colby:Okay. So first of all, pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for having me. It's a it's a lovely time. Anyone who didn't make it is absolutely missing out.
Colby:In terms of who I am, I'm an injury lawyer with James Brown and Associates. It's been an excellent place to work. I'm having a great time here. In terms of what brings me into injury law, I come from a background of working with a lot of people who faced big challenges. So I formally worked in child and family services.
Colby:I was a severe behavior teacher for a long time. I had a bit of a story career before I made my way into injury. And in my career, I came a lot of across a lot of people with injury and saw how it just meaningfully impacted the ways that they interacted with all of the things in their lives. In my family, I have, you know, some relatively significant injuries in the past as well. My dad was actually a motorcyclist.
Colby:Oh. Yeah. A few inches away from losing his leg when he was, you know, in his, I think, late late teens, early twenties in England.
Liane:So this is a little personal.
Colby:Yeah. I Yeah. The impact of injury is something that has touched my life in in many, many ways.
Liane:Yeah. No. It's there are those close encounters of people that you know or or with yourself. When we had Trent on, he kind of explained what James h Brown offers for services. Like, could you remind our listeners just a little refresher on what the purpose is of James h Brown?
Colby:Yeah. So we primarily work with injured people. A lot of our work is in motorcycles or car accidents in general. In terms of the services that we offer, of course, we're lawyers first. But throughout that process, we're incredibly proud of the way that we work with our clients, the services that we can connect them with, and our relationships.
Colby:So we have excellent relationships in the community. We work with a lot of different health providers, physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage, that sort of a thing. It's really important to us that throughout the injury process, if our client has a need, we can be incredibly flexible in connecting them with somebody who can assist them with it. In addition to that, we're very committed to having teams that are responsive to our clients, able to help them navigate just how complicated these things can be. The goal really is to provide our client with all of the tools that they need to focus on recovery because that's it's so overwhelming.
Liane:It is. I can imagine. I mean, I've had a minor I tipped over in a parking lot, but I've never had to deal with injury firsthand. But I wouldn't even really know where to start outside of, I guess, get me to a hospital. Yep.
Liane:And then call you guys.
Colby:That's the point. Yeah. You know, that's what we want is get to a hospital, focus on your recovery, call us, and we take care of the rest. Yeah. You know, there's such a the insurance companies are so big.
Colby:And when you're injured and you're just focusing on getting better, having to be, you know, in a wrestling match with an insurance company to to get what it is you're entitled to is so hard. And it's it's a real it's a real honor to be somebody that injured people trust to support them throughout that process.
Liane:Yeah. I have dealt with an insurance company for something else, and that was a pain in the butt. I can't imagine then having to fight for, like, you know, my health on that. And so outside of those services, I mean, James h Brown is literally everywhere. I I walk down the street.
Liane:There's a big yellow bus. You know? I'm watching TV. You're in my face, you know, at the football games. And, I mean, well, that makes sense given the background of ownership, but, there's a lot of community connections.
Liane:And, again, like we had Trent on last year to talk about the new partnership with us at the Alberta Motorcycle Safety Society, which gratefully, we appreciate that. What are some of the other community events that you support or or nonprofits that you guys support?
Colby:So I wanna talk a little bit more about, like, what I've been involved with personally. Sure. Because I've been doing events with the biker community specifically for our firm since I started here. So it's something that's near and dear to me. Events that I specifically been to, I've, you know, participated in the Edmonton toy run.
Colby:I don't have a bike yet, but it's it's on the list of things I'd like to do.
Liane:I mean, we need to fix that.
Colby:Yeah. But I certainly, you know, taking videos of them driving down with all the toys strapped to strapped strapped to their bikes. We also are involved in Santos Anonymous. So we send a team down to help pack up and get presents ready for kids for Christmas, which is just the most fun.
Liane:So it's not just the toy run. It's like the full circle of what the toy run does and then the output of it.
Colby:Yeah. I've been basically kind of involved in in the whole process. So at our bike meets, we've helped advertise for it. We again participated in the ride and then packed everything up. So I've kinda seen it start to finish, talked to the people who are involved, who are all absolutely lovely.
Colby:You get Christmas carols going and you're packing up gifts. We we get a little competitive. Our team is very we we wanna do we maybe count how many how many gifts gift bags that we get altogether.
Liane:Is there a big prize at the end?
Colby:No. Not at all. It's just Bragging rights? Absolutely. Like, which which team of, three managed to put together the most bags?
Colby:So that's really lovely. We've done the ride for dad. We've been involved with riding for kids. We're involved with the Alberta Motorcycle Safety Society. There's a number of other charities that we're involved with.
Colby:So it's really about giving back to the community. This is a community that supports us. This is a community that we're heavily involved in, and it's a community that we're proud to be a part of.
Liane:No. And that's awesome. I mean, we're we're good friends and collaborate a lot with the folks from Ride for Dads. So Nelson and I are often talking about how great it is to work with James h Brown because it's so easy because you guys are so committed to giving back. And I think that's really important because sometimes sometimes injury lawyers can be looked at in a certain way, and the way that the James h Brown has always approached everything has put you above the rest that makes you community minded as well as doing your job and taking care of people.
Colby:Yeah. It's it is really our relationship with people that makes what we do possible. Yeah. And I mean, I I know that there's there's certainly the things you hear about injury lawyers. You've sort of alluded to it.
Liane:Ambulance chasers. But I've never gotten that vibe from anyone from James h Brown.
Colby:Well, it's really not the goal.
Liane:No. It's not. It shouldn't be.
Colby:When somebody is injured, again, I have experienced people in my family are injured. There's so much and at the risk of going over things again, it's so hard. Yeah. And so being involved in that matters a lot. I I never go to bed and have trouble sleeping for the area of law that I work in.
Colby:I know that I'm helping people who really need it, and that means a lot.
Liane:Lawyers with empathy. Go figure. You learn something every day. Okay. The reason why I wanted to get somebody on here and and we trust those at James h Brown is there's some big changes that, I'm not sure everybody's really aware of.
Liane:And if they're not, they're gonna be now. Twenty twenty seven might look really different when it comes to injury collision. I'm not sure if it's fully signed in as a bill for no fault.
Colby:There are still parts of it that are in development.
Liane:Mhmm.
Colby:So, you know, even this conversation is really subject to
Liane:change. Right.
Colby:Because we're Yeah. We're not sure of what where everything is gonna shake out and land. Yeah. As far as we can tell right now, the intention is still to move forwards with a 2027 change.
Liane:Okay. So I did a podcast, I think, last year or the year before with Patty Bly at Klondike Insurance, another partner of ours, about the some of the changes in insurance and the fact that if your property is damaged, it would go through your own insurance So it'd be dealt with faster and then the insurance companies deal with it in the background. And but if you were injured, we would still use services like James h Brown, but that's the part that is looking at being changed. Correct?
Colby:Yeah. I think probably one of the easiest ways to vaguely explain it is things might look more similar to what the property damage looks like. So people will, with injuries, will be more likely to be interacting primarily with their own insurance company regarding the injuries, regarding treatment, regarding compensation. Mhmm. So it removes some of those opportunities to hold the insurance companies to account because, know, instead of having another insurance company to interact with, which is a lawsuit, that's likely to be far less available moving forwards.
Liane:And that kind of puts us in a weird predicament. Like, let's say I'm severely injured and for example's sake, I'm permanently disabled.
Colby:Yeah.
Liane:My insurance company isn't necessarily gonna take as much good care of me as maybe having someone like yourself come in and advocate for me.
Colby:Yeah. It certainly depends on the context in terms of what we're looking at. In some cases with really catastrophic injuries, we might see a little bit more care. But one thing that I wanna point to is some of the ways that the word catastrophic can be defined.
Liane:Right.
Colby:So I was actually having a conversation with a colleague of mine know, a few moments before I got here, just preparation for this interview. And one thing that came up that we both thought was a little bit shocking is if you look at the regulations in current form, to be catastrophic, it's possible that we're looking at some some long term care. Normally, cost of that care as it goes in the current system would be addressed through a lawsuit. So that would be assessed, we look at it, and we make sure that we get a client what they need. In the new system, that's gonna be run through the insurance company.
Colby:Now, to talk a little bit about what it could mean to be catastrophic, you're right handed. Right? Like that's what you're riding with?
Liane:Yep.
Colby:So let's say that you're in a car accident and you lose the entirety of your right arm. It's gone. Right now, that's not a catastrophic injury or it's likely not to be. Right. Because according to the regulations, well, you could just kind of figure out how to read with your left or how to write with your left.
Liane:Yeah. I'm not ambidextrous though.
Colby:Well, it's
Liane:I mean, I guess I'd have to learn that case then. Right.
Colby:So but other things that we're looking at losing in terms of how people are cared for is, you know, we we suspect that there's gonna be a significant reduction to damages or the compensation for pain and suffering. Impact on what's taken away from somebody who's injured. What it is that you lose, you know, whether it's your your ability to do your hobbies, if you're a person who's really into sports, that sort of a thing, we're probably looking at significant reductions in what's available for that.
Liane:And I mean, that whole pain and suffering, it's hard to measure in the first place. It is. And then now we're putting that in the hands of insurance companies.
Colby:Primarily the insurance company that has to pay is what it looks like it's gonna be or at least that's what we think is probably coming down the pipe.
Liane:I mean, sounds kinda terrifying.
Colby:I think it it's it's scary. And if you wanna think about in terms of what we project is gonna do to what the how lawyers are working. So in this new system, we really see a risk that if somebody is in a dispute with their own insurance company about what kind of coverage is available to them, what kind of treatment is available to them, our current feeling is that it's it's gonna be significantly more difficult to get a lawyer involved. So it's gonna be much harder for the small guy to to get somebody to come in who understands the system, which is remarkably complex. Mhmm.
Colby:Incredibly difficult to navigate and advocate for them to get what it is that they need.
Liane:Yeah. I mean, I like, I work in the HR field in my normal job, and I work with a broker on group benefits. I'm not going to fight with, you know, the manual lives, the candle lives, the whatever myself. I call my broker to deal with that. And so I kinda look at it that way.
Liane:If I would talk to you to deal with the insurance company because you're the ones who know it Yeah. And understand that.
Colby:And so you have these insurance companies that understand the regulations. This is their job versus somebody who's injured, dealing with, you know, possibly significant pain, significant disruptions through everyday life, perhaps difficulty working, and a system that is going to be increasingly difficult for lawyers to work in.
Liane:Yeah. That just doesn't make sense to me because even if it's my insurance company, it's not exactly easy to deal with them, they're supposed to be there for me, which is the strangest. I fought with one of my insurance companies a long time ago about the fact that I wasn't involved in a collision, but they kept asking me for the evidence of the damage to my vehicle in a collision that I was supposedly in, but I wasn't. And I like, you're my person.
Colby:Yeah.
Liane:I pay you to be there for me. So how am I supposed to trust this?
Colby:And I mean, at some point, you know, it's it's such an important relationship when your insurer is the person who's covering your
Liane:Yeah.
Colby:And if that relationship falls apart, if there's a dispute inside of that relationship, it's really difficult to navigate. Like as exactly as you said.
Liane:Yeah. So is there anything that our listeners or the general public can do to kind of like derail this moving forward?
Colby:I mean, this is this is a legislative decision.
Liane:Right.
Colby:So, you know, our governments absolutely have the right to legislate. The question is, are they legislating in a way that works for people?
Liane:Mhmm.
Colby:So, you know, it's it's it's largely a political issue. People need to be involved with their politics. They need to understand that if there's something that's going to have a significant impact on them, they probably wanna be involved with their elected representatives and stating how they feel about those impacts. And I think that, you know, one of the most significant risks that I can think of off the top of my head, where, you know, something we all do every day, we drive to work.
Liane:Yep.
Colby:Somebody else can make a mistake and it have just such a such a grave cost Yep. On on your everyday life. It's it's a place where you know, there but for the grace of God go I. And so we all live under the the shadow of the risk of an injury that comes from somebody else's error.
Liane:Yeah. You just walk out the door and you the the proverbial walk out the door get hit by a bus. Yeah. You know, that can actually happen. And it's I I don't know.
Liane:This whole thing just it blows my mind that I I grew up in a province that was like this. I grew up in Saskatchewan. Yep. And then when I moved to Alberta, I was like, oh, though, this, you know, it's a different system. And then when I understood it, I'm like, well, that makes a little bit more sense because if I'm really severely injured or would go with catastrophic, what is the definition of catastrophic?
Liane:And who is going to support me in my single income household when I can't now afford my house because I can't work? And who's paying for that then? And how do I get taken care of when it wasn't something that was my fault?
Colby:Yeah. And I mean in the in the new system, that will be run through this single party relationship with your own insurance company.
Liane:Is there any possibility that you can get a lawyer involved?
Colby:It may well be the case. And I mean, the thing about what we do that's really great is we can often work on, you know, contingency fees. So working out of a portion of the settlement Right. Which makes us a lot more available to anybody. Almost anybody can get a lawyer involved if they can afford to pay a lawyer's hourly fees.
Liane:Yeah. When Not many of us can do that, especially if we don't have insurance working with us.
Colby:Yeah. And that's a big barrier. And that's some of where we perceive some risk to be. Yeah. Is is making it the system work in a way that it's difficult for lawyers to work inside of it.
Colby:Do I think that there's gonna be no lawyers at all? Probably not. But I do suspect that the barriers Yeah. To getting a lawyer involved will probably be higher.
Liane:So do are there any more like really specific to motorcycle riding like risks or or things we need to look out for in these changes that you can think of?
Colby:I mean, even in terms of things that we see right now, and this is based on our perception of how how injuries occur, what the likely liabilities are for insurance companies. But we actually suspect that we're gonna be seeing an increase in premiums for bikers.
Liane:Mean, that's coming already.
Colby:Yep. But under this system, possibly even more. Ugh. You know, the nature of injuries that bikers have, will probably place, you know, large long term obligations on some of these insurance companies, and they're gonna have to figure out a way to pay for that.
Liane:And that's what kinda what happened in Saskatchewan too. Like, the insurance rates, for Saskatchewan riders went up drastically. And that to me, I guess, yeah, I mean, we're a little bit more vulnerable on the road. And if we're in a collision, we're gonna be hurt more. But if it's not our fault, why does it affect our premiums?
Colby:Yeah.
Liane:And that's never made sense to me, and it's never made sense to the folks in Saskatchewan who are going through that, and they're trying to rise up. But even when you go up against government, it's hard.
Colby:And, you know, in terms of other risks, one thing that we're really sensitive to is, how difficult it will possibly be to run a lawsuit. Mhmm. So currently, it's looking like where law in many instances where a lawsuit might be available against a person who does harm a biker, it probably there won't be insurance coverage. So it's becoming very limited. So there's gonna have to be some significant criminal charges in order to make a lawsuit available.
Colby:So again, I was talking to the same colleague and we were talking about situations in which we've seen. So we've actually seen a situation where a person intentionally hit a hit a motor Yeah. Cyclist. Yeah. And a situation like that, if they were to plead down the charge, to, you know, something like perhaps a property charge or property related charge, there's no lawsuit available.
Liane:Versus vehicular manslaughter possibilities. Nice.
Colby:So I mean, that's that's that's really a big risk. And Yeah. You know, I think the principle of accountability is really important.
Liane:Yeah. I I think so. I would agree with you on that. I'm just thinking of another situation would be like a drunk driver.
Colby:So there is drunk driving is is likely one of the situations where a lawsuit might be available. Yeah. I I'm not I don't know off the top of my head how the regulation is going to approach whether or not insurance will be available.
Liane:Yeah.
Colby:But at the same time, you know, very limited situations for lawsuits creates a climate for for lawyers, for support, where it's gonna be increasingly difficult to get somebody involved.
Liane:Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. So I guess, again, it's more of a we need to start reaching out to our MLAs and let them know how we feel.
Colby:I think that's the biggest piece. This is is largely a a legislative change. This is a political change, and, you know, political change requires political action if you're unhappy with it.
Liane:Well, I guess what we'll probably do is, when we post up this episode, you're listening to it in the show notes. So it might be a link to the list of MLAs in the province just to get make it a little easier for for people to find that information.
Colby:Yeah. Go say hello. Advocate for your interest. Make sure that it is your MLA is aware of what it is that the people they serve want because that's the end of it. They they serve the people.
Liane:And be polite and professional about it. We don't need that stereotypical biker attitude going at the government. We need to speak cleanly and clearly and be effective.
Colby:Absolutely. I mean, we we're we're all sharing the road. We're all sharing our space. We're all sharing the political climate. Yeah.
Colby:And, you know, it's it's very important to make sure that they're aware that this is a legitimate interest. This is not just anger. Yeah. This is being genuinely concerned for your health and safety on the road while you're on a motorcycle, which is something that is great to do and something you should be entitled to do and entitled to do safely.
Liane:Absolutely. Well, hopefully, everybody's learned enough through this conversation to get an idea of what is being proposed and what may be pushed through for 2027. Colby, I wanna thank you so much for your time and taking time out to come down to the YEG show to record this with us. I appreciate that.
Colby:Oh, the privilege is all mine. I mean, I'm gonna do a little bit of a leg tour and take a look at some of these beautiful bikes. So it's it's not the worst way to spend my afternoon, so I appreciate you calling me down.
Liane:You're very welcome. Yeah. This has been a fun time recording down here at the YEG Show, and I am thankful to them for letting us do this as well. For now, we're gonna go back to the regular scheduled program and hang tight for the mixed bag. On this mail bag, we're gonna follow-up with the episode that we just listened to about the changes in legislation that may be happening regarding insurance coverage.
Liane:So it's how to connect with your MLA. First of all, we need people to get involved if we want these changes to not happen and be able to have proper insurance coverage for what we need if if something should happen. To find your member of the legislature Legislative Assembly, that words always been hard for me. Just put type into your Google, how to connect with your MLA. The very top search will provide members of legislative assembly.
Liane:When you click on that, you just simply enter your postal code into the postal code area, Click go and it will tell you who your MLA is and how you can contact them. So if what you heard is concerning to you, please reach out to your MLA and get involved. And that's it for another episode of Think Bike hosted by me, Leanne Langlois, produced by Bryn Griffiths at Mighty Mouth Communications. If you have an idea or a question for the show, reach out to info@ab-amss.org or find us on all the socials. Always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike.
Liane:We'll see you out on the road.