What is the contributory negligence of a plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident?

Ford v. Henderson involved a plaintiff who had been a passenger in the defendant driver’s car. The defendant negligently accelerated when leaving a parking lot, losing control of the car and causing it to hit a hydro pole. The plaintiff had not been wearing his seatbelt, although he was trying to fasten it at the time of the accident. Wedge J. held that this was “closer to a minor lapse of care,” and therefore she would have assessed the plaintiff’s contributory negligence at 10% at most, had she found contributory negligence on the facts.