Driving related decisions by the courts.
Paul examines an impaired driving crash in Vernon that occurred in October 2014 and recently concluded in court. Lori Vance is a mother of 4 with an unblemished driving record and was known for making sure that others did not drive while impaired. She made the choice to drive after drinking at a bar one night, running a red light, killing Erin Smith and seriously injuring Lindsey Hauck.
This is the story about a fatal collision between an SUV and a motorcycle at the intersection of the Shawnigan Lake Road and the Trans-Canada Highway near the village of Shawnigan Lake on July 7, 2014. Shannon Ward was traveling eastbound on Shawnigan Lake Road and had stopped for the stop sign at the intersection with the Trans-Canada Highway.
Mandeep Gainder, a novice driver, was discovered sitting in his idling car which emitted a strong odour of marihuana from the passenger compartment. Constable Troughton performed a Standardized Field Sobriety Test on Mr. Gainder who admitted smoking the drug and failed the test. A 24 hour prohibition for drug use was issued by Constable Earle. This suspension was not disputed.
Gordon Mace, a 40 year old driver who held a class 7 driver's licence and was part of the Graduated Licencing Program (GLP) appeals a driving prohibition imposed by RoadSafetyBC after he received two traffic tickets.
Nicola Varga was late for an Epicure party and was using her iPhone's GPS app to navigate westbound on the Lougheed Highway from the Golden Ears Bridge in Pitt Meadows. She needed to make a left turn at the Park Road intersection so she began to make her way from the acceleration lane across three lanes of traffic to the left turn lane for the intersection. As she crossed from the center through lane to the left through lane she was hit from behind by a delivery truck driven by Bryan Kondola.
Nadia Brownson was driving her pickup truck on First Avenue, within a 50 km/h speed zone, in Prince George on a rainy, autumn night. Scotty Bryan and Tony Shubert had been dropped off near the Dominion Street intersection and were crossing First Avenue from north to south near a nightclub. They saw Ms. Brownson approaching but thought that they had sufficient time to cross.
Mana Erfani received a two count traffic ticket for not having a valid driver's licence and using an electronic device while driving. She intended to dispute both counts, but on the advice of an insurance agent, paid the fine for the no driver's licence count. On the date set for the trial of the use electronic device count, Ms. Erfani failed to appear and was deemed convicted.
Gurpreet Dhaliwal and Herman Randhawa were driving southbound on 152nd Street approaching 76 Avenue in Surrey, British Columbia. Mr. Randawa attempted to change lanes and, in doing so, struck the driver’s side of Mr. Dhaliwal’s car with the passenger side of his vehicle.
Christine Bayfield was driving her van southbound on the Inland Island Highway in rainy and wet road conditions. She overtook a logging truck to avoid being sprayed by the water it picked up off the pavement. As she passed, she lost control, began to rotate and left the pavement, rolling over in the median.
Paul examines the case of Bingul v Youngson. It involves a rear end collision at a Vancouver intersection where Murat Bingul was found to have pulled in front of a heavy commercial vehicle and stopped for a traffic light. The driver of the commercial vehicle, Spencer Youngson, was unable to stop due to the suddenly reduced distance to the intersection and collided with the Bingul vehicle.