A BC Supreme Court judge, Justice Lance Bernard, has held a truck driver and his trucking company liable for a motor vehicle accident on Highway 99 in the town of Mt. Currie.
In the early hours of October 16, 2013, a woman named Patricia Peters was struck by a motor vehicle on Highway 99 where it passes through the town of Mt. Currie, B.C.
The driver, Glen Bird, left the scene without stopping to render assistance or reporting the incident. There were no independent witnesses to the collision and Peters was found semi-conscious and seriously injured on the roadway.
She had no collection of the event as she was intoxicated, she admitted to the court.
The judge concluded that Bird was negligent and breached the duty of care he owed to Peter as a user of the road. He was travelling at more than twice the speed limit, and struck Peter as she sat at the side of the road.
Bird was in a “phone fight” with his girlfriend that night and in an agitated state as he came to the town of Mt. Currie from Squamish. Bird ignored the posted 40 kilometre per hour speed limit and continued at 70 kilometre per hour.
He continued at the high speed despite a left turn onto Pemberton Portage Road, limited visibility at night, poor artificial lighting and the curve in the road, and his knowledge that pedestrians might well be present on or near the roadway beyond the curve.
The truck struck Peters and threw her on the road, where she lay semi-conscious and seriously injured in the middle of the road.
The judge concluded that Bird’s conduct was both a serious breach of his statutory duties and of his common law duty as a driver to keep a proper lookout and take reasonable precautions.
However, the judge found Glen Bird and the trucking company only 75 per cent liable for damages caused to Peters.
Peters conceded that she was 25 per cent at fault for placing herself in a very vulnerable position because of alcohol intoxication.
“I am very proud of Patricia for her resolve in seeking justice in this case. She has shown herself to be a woman of extraordinary determination and character,” said her lawyer, Jim Hanson.
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