Case Law

Driving related decisions by the courts.

CASE LAW - R v Podger

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThis is still another example of a Charter argument for unreasonable delay with regard to a dispute hearing for a traffic ticket. In this case, the delay amounted to 13 months and 3 weeks and Mr. Podger was successful in showing that the delay caused a prejudice to his ability to conduct his defence. A judicial stay of proceedings was entered on the charge.

CASE LAW - R v Pearson

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThis is another case of a Charter argument over delay in proceeding to trial. The speeding ticket dispute took 17 1/2 months from offence to trial date and Mr. Pearson testified that this was too long, causing him serious prejudice. Rather than letting the judge infer the prejudice from the time period alone, Mr.

CASE LAW - Gencoglu v. Borg

BC Courts Coat of ArmsIn this civil case the driver sued a cyclist for damages caused when the cyclist collided with his parked vehicle. The driver's reasoning was that his door had been open for some time and that the cyclist should have seen and avoided colliding with it. The judge did not agree.

CASE LAW - R v Thompsett

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThis case discusses care and control of a motor vehicle while impaired. The woman, seat belted in the driver's position, was the only occupant of an idling vehicle parked at the curb. Investigation by ambulance paramedics and police revealed that the woman did not have a medical problem and was impaired by alcohol.

CASE LAW - R v Wlodarczak

BC Courts Coat of ArmsDo the police ever charge a fellow officer with a traffic offence? I suspect that members of the public more often than not would respond "no" to that assertion and would be skeptical of protests to the contrary. In R v Wlodarczak, we see that this happens, even when the accused is driving an unmarked police vehicle at the time of the offence.

CASE LAW - R v Goldade

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThis is an examination of the application of Driving Without Due Care and Attention under section 144(1)(a) of the Motor Vehicle Act. In this instance the driver of a van pulled across the path of an oncoming motorcycle because the driver, Goldade, felt that he had sufficient time to clear the motorcycle's lane before it arrived. The misjudgment precipitated a collision in which the driver of the motorcycle died.

CASE LAW - R v Drummond

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThe case of R v Drummond examines a Charter of Rights argument that a delay of 17 months from the offence date to the trial date for a traffic violation ticket is unreasonable. Grant Drummond was served with a traffic ticket for excessive speed, tinted windows and failing to wear a seatbelt on August 1, 2007. He filed a dispute of all counts within the 30 day time period.

CASE LAW - Bhullar v ICBC

BC Courts Coat of ArmsA car owner is not successful in a claim against ICBC for a total loss of their vehicle. The court finds that the owner made misrepresentation to the corporation about who actually owned and was the principal operator of the vehicle and was then involved in the theft and burning of it.

CASE LAW - R v Chisholm

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThis is a tragic case where a rear end collision resulted in the death of a taxi driver and severe burns to his passenger when the taxi caught fire post collision. The events that led up to the taxi being rear ended are no doubt common in every day traffic here in British Columbia, but in this case did not end in a near miss.

CASE LAW - R v Dahlquist

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThe accused was stopped at a roadblock about midnight by police checking for driving infractions. An officer immediately noted that his eyes were bloodshot and watery and he had a mild to moderate odour of liquor on his breath. She read the accused the approved screening device demand and he blew a “Warn”, which indicated his blood alcohol level was between 50mg% and 100mg%.