Case Law

Dixon Ormiston fell from his bicycle and sustained serious injury after being forced against a concrete abutment by a vehicle that veered into his path while he was passing it on the right side. Of interest in deciding the liability in this case is the examination of passing on the right, both by a vehicle driver and a cyclist.

Brian Alexander was stopped for excessive speeding in Kamloops, B.C. He was issued a traffic ticket for excessive speed and police attempted to impound his vehicle for seven days as required by the Motor Vehicle Act. Mr. Alexander responded that he had no intention of giving up his vehicle, sat inside it and refused to get out when required to do so by the officer.

Clare Bekkers spent the evening at a friend's residence in Victoria drinking and using cocaine. The following day she collected her young children and headed home to Nanaimo. When she started her journey that day at 12:30 pm her blood alcohol level was between 93 and 148 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. There was some indication that she may have consumed beer in her vehicle on the way home.

This is a case involving a pedestrian, Brian Cairney, and a driver, Kimberly Miller, who met in a crosswalk at the intersection of Vernon and Hall Streets in Nelson. It was a dark, overcast evening with light rain. Street lighting was present along with other pedestrians.

Road users, drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, have a duty to take reasonable care for themselves and others. If they do not follow the traffic rules they assume a heightened duty of care according to the courts. In this case both the driver and the cyclist involved failed to do so and collided with each other.

In this case, Kristen Debra-Lee Spencer challenges an Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) in a Supreme Court Review of an adjudicators decision upholding the IRP on review. Ms. Spencer was issued the IRP for being in care and control of a motor vehicle, having alcohol in her body and refusing to provide a breath sample on the demand of a police officer.

Mrs. Wong-Lai and her husband were crossing Prior Street between Gore and Dunlevy in Vancouver to return to their car. They were struck by a car driven by Mr. Ong. The older couple were not able to cross the street quickly, had chosen to cross where there was not a crosswalk on a wide, busy street at night in a heavy rain.