This is a case from the BC Court of Appeal that upholds a judgement from the Supreme Court. The incident in question occurred when Peter Link was driving his Jaguar in a snowstorm on Highway 99 between the Highway 10 and Highway 91 exits in Richmond. He was driving at a speed between 40 and 60 km/h when he was passed by an SUV that threw a large amount of snow onto his windshield as it passed by. Mr. Link was unable to see as his wipers could not clear the windshield sufficiently quickly. When he braked he lost control of his vehicle and collided with the median barrier.
Mr. Justice Ball found that the SUV driver had a duty of care to pass Mr. Link in safety and by traveling at a significantly higher speed while throwing snow from the tires breached that duty. The unknown driver of the SUV was found liable for the collision. The decision was unsuccessfully appealed by ICBC.
Link:
The only possible reason I can imagine for ICBC appealing this entirely reasonable and
logical judgement would be to enable them assess blame to the known driver (Link) for the accident.
They had no way of assessing penalty points to the unknown driver, so no offsetting revenue for
ICBC. As the saying goes, when something doesn't seem to make sense, just follow the money.
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... they do get to potentially increase the insurance rate for any driver found more than 25% at fault in a crash.
So they will always fight tooth and nail - with expensive lawyers paid for from our premiums - when a single vehicle crash occurs, and no blame is apportioned against the driver who crashed.
So if a deer jumps in front of you on the highway, and instead of hitting it you attempt to swerve around it, but consequently lose control and end up in the ditch? It's all on you, buddy. No fur, you're fried.
Did you know that on this planet, the creature from the animal kingdom that causes the most deaths to humans is the crocodile? You see, they can run pretty damn fast, and once they're clamped onto a limb they'll just roll you into the nearest water and drown you. But on this continent, partly due to the absence of crocodiles, the creature that causes the most human deaths is a deer on the highway. Include moose in that category, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador. Hit one of those suckers at 100 km/hr and your windshield ain't gonna save you!
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Link v ICBC Appeal