Case Law

One way of preparing for a traffic ticket dispute is to request disclosure from the officer who issued it. It was relatively rare to receive such a request but when one did appear the disputant often asked for everything, including the tread depth of the right rear tire on the police car. It was fairly clear that the request was based on advice found on the internet rather than obtained from a lawyer. Disclosing less than what was requested (but still reasonable in the circumstances) resulted in complaints to the justice at the hearing.

Shortly before 8:40 a.m. on February 17, 2011 Kristin Olson was walking along Jervis Street at Nelson Street in Vancouver, B.C. She was walking in the direction of Davie Street and stopped to watch for traffic before crossing Nelson. She observed a car driven by Ashraf Farran approaching in the distance across the traffic circle.

This is a case where a series of bad decisions and defective equipment led to the death of a pedestrian walking on a path beside the highway at Ucluelet. Van Nho Nguyen had performed maintenance on the rear brakes of his truck that resulted in those brakes not functioning correctly.

On September 21, 2014 Barry Drake was driving a vehicle on Loughborough Drive in Campbell River, B.C. He was a prohibited driver and had decided to "do doughnuts" in a residential area that is part of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation’s Reserve. The street is marked with a sign that reads “You Are Now Entering Private Land - Please Drive carefully.”

When you turn right after stopping at an intersection, you are required to turn from a position close to the curb to a position close to the curb. Failing to do so properly could result in a side swipe collision if a vehicle is passing by in the left lane of the cross street. In the case of Matharu v Gill, Hardeep Matharu was travelling to work westbound on Nordell Way using the left hand lane.

Erin Couldwell was operating his bicycle at the exit of a parking lot onto a lane near the Victoria Police Department headquarters just before 7:00 am on September 25, 2014. His bicycle had neither lights nor reflectors. Constable Horonowitsch had just commenced his dayshift and was approaching the parking lot exit in the lane driving a marked police vehicle with it's normal vehicle lighting on.

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.

The police must follow the provisions of the Emergency Vehicle Driving Regulation when they intend to employ the exemption from the rules of the road set out in the Motor Vehicle Act. In this case, Constable Jacobson was driving his police vehicle on Highway 97 at Daimler Drive in West Kelowna approaching a red light. Hoping to save a few minutes arriving at a complaint he activated the police vehicles's emergency lights and siren about 4 - 5 vehicle lengths’ back from the beginning of the left turn lane on Highway 97 going south.

This case was sparked by a driver who felt that he was entitled to be next in line at a Tim Horton's drive through in Mill Bay, B.C. He attempted to assert his place by bumping the tire of the pickup truck he felt that he should be in front of. Giving way because of the size difference, this man caught up to the pickup on the highway after they had exited the drive through. He pulled in front of it and braked suddenly several times, finally coming to a stop in the curb lane.

This is definitely an odd case! It shows the value of doing regular vehicle maintenance and keeping the receipts to account for it.